Arsenal’s loss to title rivals Manchester City on Sunday in what was touted as the biggest Premier League match in years could be a fatal blow to their hopes of ending their 22-year wait for football glory.
Arsenal looked like they had the English Premier League trophy within their grasp for months, but City are now three points clear and on a roll with a game in hand to face Burnley on Wednesday.
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If Josep Guardiola’s side win, they will replace Mikel Arteta’s team, who were his former protégés, at the top of the table.
Rayan Cherki opened the scoring for City in a frenetic first half at the Etihad Stadium before Arsenal’s Kai Havertz converted a mistake from Gianluigi Donnarumma to put his team level.
The equalizer, which came out of thin air, made Arsenal fans believe this could be their day, and their season.
Erling Haaland’s relentless pursuit of a winner in a crucial game was rewarded with a second-half goal.
At the other end of the pitch, Havertz missed a late header that could have added to the story of this season’s Premier League.
In response, City fans pointed to a banner reading “Panic on the streets of London”.
Advantage, Manchester City
When the final whistle blew, pundits agreed that City’s victory could prove decisive in the title race.
“I’ve always said whoever won that game won the league,” former City player Micah Richards told Sky Sports, and fellow pundit Gary Neville agreed.
“City now have a huge advantage,” agreed the former Manchester United and England right-back.
However, Arsenal manager Arteta was defiant after the game, insisting the trophy was still the Gunners’ to lose.
“It’s in our hands and we can take it,” he said. But realistically, Guardiola’s team will have to fail.
Arsenal started the season with full force, losing just three of their first 49 games in all competitions.
A month ago, fans of the north London club were dreaming of winning a historic ‘quadruple’ trophy.
Arsenal suffered a serious injury when they lost to City in the English League Cup final on 22 March. The 2-0 loss wasn’t just a bad result, it was a meek performance. Within a week, another trophy disappeared. This time they lost to second division Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Earlier this month, sports statistics service Opta announced that Arsenal have a more than 97 per cent chance of becoming champions if they beat Bournemouth, which would put them 12 points clear at the top of the table.
Currently, they are barely holding on to the top spot.
There is time for at least one more change of momentum, but Arteta is starting to look like a deflated front-runner, with the much more experienced Guardiola on his shoulders, ready to sprint past him in the final straight. Guardiola led City to six Premier League titles in his 10 years in charge.
Arteta came from Barcelona’s youth ranks in the late 1990s when Guardiola was a senior professional, and then spent three years at Manchester City as fellow Spaniard Guardiola’s assistant before taking over Arsenal in 2019. The story of “apprentice versus master” further heightens the drama of the title battle.
The Arsenal manager has downplayed the pressure his team is feeling, but his attempts to project calm are not always convincing.
In his six-and-a-half years at Arsenal, he has steadily improved and has shown remarkable consistency, finishing runners-up in the Premier League three years in a row. The foundation is solid, but the finishing touches are lacking.
Will Arsenal be ‘bottled’ again?
As the Premier League draws to a close, Arsenal will play home matches against Newcastle, Fulham and Burnley, before playing away against West Ham and Crystal Palace on the final day (May 24).
As well as Burnley, City will visit Everton and Bournemouth. Their final home game will be against Brentford, Crystal Palace (dates to be determined) and Aston Villa.
Arsenal have played all five games against lower-ranked teams and appear to have a slight advantage. But Bournemouth’s defeat of the Gunners in London on April 11 left the league leaders in danger of hoping for three points against the bottom clubs.
Second place would be a nightmare for Arteta, the players and the fans. Arsenal have become a big target for fans of other clubs, and the scorn they face most is that they are “bottlers”.
The accusations have angered Arsenal supporters, who feel Arsenal deserve more respect for their achievements, including being the last Premier League club to remain in the UEFA Champions League for the past two seasons.
While the vocal elements of the fanbase have garnered a huge following on social media platforms, this content puts an even brighter spotlight on the club. Fan abuse after games often attracts more attention than the football itself.
Arsenal’s football has been criticized for its lack of flair. The team’s success is based on quality defending and set-piece goals.
There is irony in the accusations they have received. Arsenal’s team, which won league titles under manager George Graham in 1989 and 1991 just before the introduction of the Premier League, was famous for its emphasis on defence. Hence the famous chant “1-0 to Arsenal”. That team didn’t have to worry about reputation as they were celebrating winning a trophy, but the same could be true of the current Arsenal team if they show some excitement in the second half.
The club’s last Premier League win in 2004 was a completely different scenario as Arsene Wenger’s side went through an unbeaten season and became known as ‘The Invincibles’. For much of this season, Arteta’s team had an air of invincibility. It has been brutally dismantled in recent weeks.
In the coming weeks, Arsenal could win two coveted trophies.
To make that happen, they need to brace themselves for the Champions League semi-finals, where they will face a strong Atletico Madrid team.
If Arsenal end up empty-handed, Arteta will have just one FA Cup and two Community Shields to show for a reign that promised so much.
