LONDON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Arsenal plays a vital Premier League game at home to Bournemouth on Saturday that could be decisive to its Premier League ambitions.

Mikel Arteta's side looks to be sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League with a nine-point lead over Manchester City, but it has played a game more and visits the Etihad Stadium next weekend where a win for Manchester City would reopen the title race, especially if Arsenal slips up on Saturday against a rival that hasn't lost in its last 11 Premier League games.

Bournemouth is the Premier League draw specialist with 15 draws from 31 games this season and just seven defeats - with the last of those an entertaining 2-3 at home to Arsenal on January 3rd.

Arsenal has played twice since the international break, with a 2-1 defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup last weekend and a 1-0 Champions League win away to Sporting Clube de Portugal on Tuesday night, while this will be Bournemouth's first game in three weeks since a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United on March 20th.

Manchester City will watch closely what happens in Bournemouth ahead of its visit to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola's side showed it is back to its best form last week with a 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool in the FA Cup, and while Chelsea put seven goals past Port Vale in the same tournament, the pressure remains on coach Liam Rosenior, who has a long injury list with Enzo Fernandez also left out after his 'come and get me' messages to Real Madrid in the international break.

The weekend gets under way on Friday night with a vital game for West Ham United at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers which is a chance for West Ham to climb out of the bottom three, but also a potential banana skin, given that Wolverhampton has improved in 2026 and has recently beaten Aston Villa and Liverpool and drawn with Arsenal.

If West Ham does win, it would mean Roberto De Zerbi begins his tenure as new Tottenham coach with his side in the bottom three. Tottenham visits Sunderland on Sunday in an absolutely massive game for the club and the attention will be on if the new coach can improve on Igor Tudor's brief and disastrous spell in charge.

Manchester United is at home to Leeds United on Monday in a vital game for a top-four finish and avoiding relegation, while fourth place Aston Villa's visit to fifth bottom Nottingham Forest is also vital at both ends of the table.

Liverpool has the chance to end a difficult week that saw Arne Slot's side outplayed by Manchester City in the FA Cup and Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, with a home game to Fulham that has a chance of securing European football next season.

The game also sees in-form former Liverpool winger Harry Wilson back to face his former club where fans are planning to protest against increased ticket prices.

Elsewhere, Brentford plays Everton in a game between two sides with European ambitions, while Burnley entertains Brighton, looking to take something positive to a season that is destined to end in relegation.

Crystal Palace entertains a Newcastle United that also has a slight chance of securing a place in Europe next season, but which needs to be much more consistent. ■