Premier League Week 31 Fixtures: EPL Tickets, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Picks
Arsenal face their last chance to prove they are still in the Premier League title race when they make the daunting trip to Everton to face a side suddenly in buoyant mood under manager Roberto Martinez.
Nothing less than three points will do for embattled Arsenal chief Arsene Wenger. One more defeat will knock his fragile team out of the race and expose the Frenchman to unprecedented levels of criticism that could spark the bitter end of his otherwise illustrious tenure.
A split may be coming much sooner for Manchester United and Louis van Gaal. Knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Liverpool and sixth in the league table, Van Gaal will know how much losing the Manchester derby would further sour the mood in the red half of the city.
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Here are Week 31's fixtures, along with schedule and viewing information, as well as picks:
| Date | Time (GMT / ET) | Match | TV | Live Stream | Pick |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 12:45 p.m./8:45 a.m. | Everton vs. Arsenal | BT Sport 1 / NBCSN | Watch BT Sport App | Everton |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 3 p.m./11 a.m. | Chelsea vs. West Ham United | NBC Sports Live Extra | Chelsea | |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 3 p.m./11 a.m. | Crystal Palace vs. Leicester City | NBCSN | NBC Sports Live Extra | Draw |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 3 p.m./11 a.m. | Watford vs. Stoke City | NBCSN | NBC Sports Live Extra | Draw |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 3 p.m./11 a.m. | West Bromwich Albion vs. Norwich City | Premier League Extra Time | NBC Sports Live Extra | Draw |
| Saturday, Mar. 19 | 5:30 p.m./1:30 p.m. | Swansea City vs. Aston Villa | Sky Sports 1 / NBCSN | Sky Go / NBC Sports Live Extra | Swansea |
| Sunday, Mar. 20 | 1:30 p.m./9:30 a.m. | Newcastle United vs. Sunderland | Sky Sports 1 | Sky Go / NBC Sports Live Extra | Newcastle |
| Sunday, Mar. 20 | 1:30 p.m./9:30 a.m. | Southampton vs. Liverpool | Premier League Extra Time | NBC Sports Live Extra | Liverpool |
| Sunday, Mar. 20 | 4 p.m./12 p.m. | Manchester City vs. Manchester United | Sky Sports 1 / NBC Telemundo | Sky Go / NBC Sports Live Extra | Draw |
| Sunday, Mar. 20 | 4 p.m./12 p.m. | Tottenham Hotspur vs. Bournemouth | Premier League Extra Time | NBC Sports Live Extra | Spurs |
Live streaming can be accessed via the BT Sport website, the Sky Go app or NBC Sports Live Extra.
For ticket information on all Premier League games, visit the official site or go to the ticket page on the home club's official website (links provided below):
Everton vs. Arsenal
Wenger once again finds himself in the cross hairs after a week when his squad was eliminated from both the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. That makes a trip to Goodison Park to meet an in-form Toffees team badly timed.
Speaking of poor timing, Wenger must rue the schedulers who thought it wise for this game to be played at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday after the Gunners were away at Barcelona in the Champions League less than 72 hours earlier on Wednesday night.
That's a gruelling schedule sure to test the limits and resources of any manager and his squad. But timing aside, getting a result at Everton will demand Wenger finds an answer to a problem he's had all season.
Specifically, the Gunners chief must decide on what's his best combination of players up front. Arsenal started this campaign with Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flanking Theo Walcott. Then Olivier Giroud and Joel Campbell took their turns, as did Aaron Ramsey.
Lately, Danny Welbeck has been leading the line, something that's been good news for Sanchez. The Chilean plays best when he has pace and varied movement around him, qualities Giroud can't provide.
Welbeck has been one of the few Arsenal attackers in good form during 2016, but that still leaves the final spot in the Gunners' front three needing to be filled. Against Barca, Wenger trusted Nigerian teenager Alex Iwobi, a challenge the 19-year-old met.
In particular, Iwobi linked well with his attacking partners, combining passes with the midfield and making smart runs behind the defence. Neither Iwobi nor Welbeck completed the full 90 minutes at the Camp Nou, so both should be available to start on Merseyside.
Without the right, cohesive forward line, Arsenal are sure to repeat the depressing pattern than has destroyed their season. Simply put, it's to play well, create chances but not take them and eventually get punished at the other end.
It's an issue Welbeck rued after the misery in Barcelona, per BT Sport Football:
If Arsenal repeat their most frequent mistake, Everton certainly boast the firepower to punish them. Most notably, in-form striker Romelu Lukaku could savage a shaky Gunners defence.
He's netted 18 times in England's top flight and has six assists to his credit, per WhoScored.com. Lukaku was also on the scoresheet two seasons ago when Everton thrashed Arsenal 3-0 at Goodison Park.
His current form and combination with playmaker Ross Barkley offer an ominous warning for Wenger's men. The Arsenal boss must wish he had firepower this good.
Wenger has won 10 league encounters at the home of the Toffees, according to the league's official site. But it's hard to see him making it 11 with Lukaku in this sort of form.
Manchester City vs. Manchester United
Injuries, injuries and more injuries. Those are the words likely reverberating around the heads of managers Manuel Pellegrini and Van Gaal ahead of the second Manchester derby of the season.
City chief Pellegrini is counting the cost of reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. It's a laudable historic achievement but one that cost City the services of centre-back and skipper Vincent Kompany.
Pellegrini noted how his best defender and only notable on-pitch general could reportedly be out for "at least a month," per BBC Sport. That's desperate news for a City squad whose place in the top four isn't even assured with West Ham United just two points behind.
City's Manchester neighbours trail by just four points, but do the Reds have the firepower to capitalise on Kompany's absence? Van Gaal's group has also been hit hard with the injury bug this season, according to assistant Ryan Giggs, per Sam Wallace of the Daily Telegraph:
"Obviously there have been a lot of injuries. A lot of them have been freak injuries – shoulders and Luke Shaw’s leg. A lot of knocks, the kind of things you can’t do anything about. And then when the squad gets small you are asking a lot of players to play games when maybe they could be rested or rotated.
"
But regardless of injures, United have failed to shine in front of goal too often this season, evidenced by just 37 goals in England's top flight. It's time for young talents such as Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard to really step up with some real consistency. The derby would be a great place to start.
These two fixtures will have a massive impact on not only the title race but also the final order of the top four. Arsenal's faint title hopes could be permanently extinguished at Goodison, while the derby winner will surely have the edge as Manchester's likely lone representative in next season's Champions League.
