They also have the game in hand though, so City beating Arsenal will make it 1 point with a game still in hand.
Arsenal need a draw to keep it at 4 points then the game in hand is meaningless, unless Arsenal bottle it against someone else. If Arsenal win, then it goes to 7 points and gives them a slight buffer if they fuck up against someone
I’d have no issue with reactions to the game saying that City should be starting to feel confident, but saying their title challenge is now over when mathematically it is still in their hands it just the ridiculous hyperbole that makes the internet such an eye roll.
I’d definitely say its starting to stack up against them, as even if they can hold City to a point at the Etihad they have to turn around and play Chelsea (always a big game for Arsenal even if they’re off form) and Newcastle. That’s the sort of bang-bang effort this side doesn’t have the experience of having not been involved in the business end of a season before. Arteta has a big job on his hands now, but it is still in their hands, and doesnt require then having to beat city.
Arsenal are a squad who haven’t been in this position and they’re up against a team who consoder winning this to be routine. They were always likely to fall short, its just human nature unfortunately.
This kind of reminds me of the title race in 2018/19. We analysed the fixture list pretty thoroughly and a lot of us were rightly worried about trips to Man United and Everton - but we first dropped points to Leicester and West Ham that we didn’t expect we would drop. It’s a shame that those corrupt twats will have won five out of the last six by the end of this season.
Yeah, I usually don’t go too deep into schedules, past or future (especially future), too much calculation where and what. But that Leicester home draw in 2019 was a big one I felt. Think we would’ve went 7 points clear? When that match ended, I immediately got the feeling “this could be City’s now”. It was snowy, but I remember we got an early lead and it was huge. And it was poor the way we couldn’t protect it. Was difficult to see us break them down to score a second.
As for Arsenal, when you’re leading most of the season and not win it, it’s a blow. But still, their season is a success. Not catastrophic if they fail to beat City, with their quality and incredible consistency, for a title after coming from an outside top 4 position. Whether Arsenal wins it or not, they can remain pretty positive about what’s happening and continue building on this, improving the side.
If I remember correctly, Maguire should have been sent off and then he went on to score the equaliser as well. Mind you, we scored a goal that should have been disallowed against West Ham and Origi should have scored a last minute winner in that game also from an offside position but it wasn’t meant to be, I guess…
I don’t think that Arsenal have had a major irregular decision go against them this season but maybe I’m wrong as I couldn’t bring myself to watch much football because we suck. I only hope all these close title wins for Man City will make them being stripped off the trophies even sweeter. I don’t expect it but I certainly hope for it.
I don’t think I would describe John Cross as “respected”. That’s a term I would use for the best journalists. For me, “Hack” is probably a closer description given some of the guff he has written about us and his own club, Arsenal.
"It would arguably be a bad thing for Arsenal to win the league because it perpetuates the illusion that the Premier League is still as competitive as ever, and doesn’t have a huge problem. All of this is without even discussing the fact City have been charged with multiple alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.
Instead, if City win yet another title – to make it five in six, a historic third in a row, to potentially go with a treble in a grand display of power – it might wake more people to the reality."
They must have been reading this Forum. A few of us have been saying exactly what the last paragraph have been saying.
We’ve been taking the City trumps us medicine while everyone else who knew they didn’t have a competitive team have been having a good ol laugh at our expense. The more that gets spread around, the better it might be for the long term health of the league.
Probably just us and Arsenal who feel bitter and to be honest bar my Leicester mate it’s usually just the Arsenal fans I know who say i hope you lot win it instead of them.
Penny finally dropping now it’s the media darlings on the end of it.
The replies to that article are really telling. Full of City fans constructing defences of their club. This kind of tribalism, that puts ones own club above the the sport it competes in, is going to be the end of football.