In the highly awaited match, Manchester City is set to take on table toppers Arsenal in their potential title-decider game on Wednesday. Ahead of the game both of the teams have an amazing winning run and both will look to continue their dominance. Arsenal’s victory can assure them some advantage to win the Premier League title while City’s victory will tie them with the table toppers as they are just five points behind them.
Notably, in the last three games Arsenal has been part of three back-to-back dramatic draws which has raised questions over Mikel Arteta’s team’s pressure-handling capacity. Both against Liverpool and West Ham, they jumped out to early 2-0 leads before losing momentum and drawing 2-2.
In contrast, Arsenal fell behind Southampton 2-0 and 3-1 before scoring twice in the final three minutes to force a 3-3 draw. They had previously won seven straight league games, including three straight victories by three goals or more, giving them 24 out of a possible 30 points.
Meanwhile, ahead of their game Arsenal coach Arteta said that their match against City will not decide the title as the remaining five games can make an impact on the results. He said, If we win tomorrow night we haven’t won the league, that’s for sure. It will shift the percentages a little bit, but with five games left after this, it will still be very tricky. We wanted to close that gap as much as we could and we’re toe-to-toe with them. We knew we had to go to the Etihad. Is it going to define the season? The answer is no.”
“Mentality plays a huge part. The belief is there. When I look at how they train and the way they’ve reacted, the mood in the dressing room and the way they defend each other, we want it. We’re going to show that again tomorrow night. But we have to deliver in the right moment with the right performance and it has to be perfect because that’s what this last level demands – absolute perfection.”
Can Arsenal break Manchester City’s 16-match unbeaten run?
Ahead of the much-awaited game Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are on a long winning run. They are unbeaten in the last 16 games since losing to Tottenham in mid-February this year. They have won 13 games since then while three ended up with a Draw. Amazingly, relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest is the only team to have upset them in the league during that span, drawing 1-1 with them in February thanks to a late equalise from Chris Wood.
In that stretch, City has won its other eight league contests, collecting 25 of the last 27 possible points. City has a history of performing well in the final weeks, and the resemblance to last year is startling. After losing to Spurs in February, they went on an unbroken streak of nine victories and three draws that helped them win the championship one point ahead of Liverpool. The team will look to continue their dominance with an impressive victory against Table Toppers.
