Premier League title race could be blown wide open when Arsenal and Chelsea clash

The top of the table clash between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday has the potential to blow the Premier League title race wide open.

Alternatively, it could leave it in danger of turning into a procession.

Arsenal, six points clear at the top, heads to Stamford Bridge on a wave of optimism and a growing belief it will end its long wait for a first league title since 2004. With a squad regarded as possibly the strongest in Europe, Mikel Arteta’s team is undefeated in 16 games in all competitions, with 14 wins on that run.

After three straight years as runner up, it feels like Arsenal's time has come and Wednesday's demolition of European powerhouse Bayern Munich was further evidence of its credentials to win the biggest prizes, not only the title but perhaps the Champions League as well.

With defending champion Liverpool in freefall and Manchester City also off the pace, it could be Arsenal's title to lose.

The closest challenger is second-place Chelsea, winner of the Club World Cup in July and with a squad that cost more than $1 billion. But it is possibly ahead of the curve in terms of mounting a serious title charge.

Coach Enzo Maresca is only in his second season in the Premier League and has a squad packed with inexperience, but Chelsea produced its standout performance of the campaign to beat Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The clash with Arsenal will be the sternest test yet of its title credentials.

While Chelsea vs. Arsenal is the biggest match of the weekend, there are key clashes elsewhere for teams hoping to stay in touch at the top.

City can temporarily move up to second with a win against Leeds while Liverpool, on the back of six losses in seven in the league, is at West Ham.

Brazil forward Estevao has quickly established himself at Chelsea and has been one of the most exciting players this season, with nine goals in his last 13 games for club and country. That included his outstanding strike against Barcelona this week and his late winner against Liverpool last month.

Hugo Ekitike was substituted in Liverpool's game against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday because of a back complaint.

Matheus Cunha missed Manchester United's defeat against Everton because of what was described as a knock in training. Benjamin Sesko is out with a knee injury.

Leandro Trossard limped off in the first half of Arsenal's game against Bayern, with Arteta saying afterwards he did not know the extent of the injury.

Liverpool's title defense is at crisis point, with growing scrutiny on coach Arne Slot after a run of nine defeats in 12 games in all competitions.

Slot said he was still “feeling safe” after the latest loss, but it is clear he needs to turn Liverpool's form around after its damaging run.

The pressure could mount further if Liverpool slips up again at an upwardly mobile West Ham.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta arrives for a training session at the Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2025 ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Bayern Munich. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Chelsea's Estevao celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Chelsea and Barcelona in London, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Eberechi Eze celebrates after scoring during a Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham in London, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez applauds fans at the end of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Chelsea and Barcelona in London, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates after a Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Tottenham in London, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.

Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.

The buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.

The Trump administration has defended it as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.

Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.

Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.

Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.

It wasn't immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.

Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.

All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

President Nicolas Maduro joins a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)