Arsenal are just three victories away from securing their first Premier League title since 2004, but can they avoid a stumble against third-bottom West Ham on Sunday?
“This is the kind of match where Arsenal fans will be thinking that if they can get past this obstacle, the championship is theirs,” said BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton.
Sutton is predicting all 380 Premier League games this season, going head-to-head with AI, BBC Sport readers, and a variety of special guests. For week 36, the former Norwich City striker squares off against boxing world champion Fabio Wardley, an Ipswich Town supporter.
Wardley is set to defend his WBO heavyweight title for the first time against Daniel Dubois in Manchester on Saturday. Unfortunately, a ring clash between Sutton and Wardley wasn’t possible, so they’ll settle for a battle of predictions—and a bit of verbal sparring, especially after Ipswich’s promotion to the Premier League while rivals Norwich, Sutton’s first club, finished ninth in the Championship.
“Chris would probably call himself a Norwich legend,” Wardley said. “That lot like to do that. We’ve already beaten them twice in the Championship this season, so if I can add another notch by beating him too, I’ll take that.”
“Fabio looks a bit chubby to me,” Sutton responded. “But I wish him all the best in his fight. I’m genuinely pleased his team has gone up—it’s quite convenient for me to get to Ipswich if I have to work there, and I hope they enjoy their season in the Premier League.”
Ipswich secured their return to the top flight last weekend. Wardley’s fight preparations meant he couldn’t join the celebrations at Portman Road on Saturday or attend Monday’s promotion parade, but he still cheered their crucial 3–0 final-day win over QPR from a distance.
“It’s really exciting for us to be back up there, and I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” he told BBC Sport. “It was the first time in a long time I missed the last game of the season, and I was gutted not to make the parade either. I spoke to chairman Mark Ashton and told him I was with the guys in spirit—but I’ve got my own job to take care of this weekend. They were more than understanding, and they’ll be there on Saturday night to support me too.”
Ipswich were promoted to the Premier League in 2024 as well, but were relegated after winning just one of their final 19 matches. Wardley, however, is confident things will be different this time.
“It didn’t go our way, but that season was still great for the club and the whole area,” he explained. “Everyone was buzzing every time a big team came to town. For any promoted side, staying up is the main goal, and we gave it a good go first time around. Clearly, there were adjustments to make, but we’ve bounced straight back up, and I feel we’re far better equipped now—firstly in terms of experience, but also the quality of players we have and the team unit. We’re much stronger defensively, for example, conceding 10 fewer goals this season compared to last time we went up. Even in that area, there have been big improvements. Now we can add a few new players to what was already a good team—and make it great.”
Chris Sutton and Fabio Wardley were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan. The AI predictions were generated using Microsoft Copilot.
