Premier League confirm date for Man City vs Arsenal title showdown

The Premier League has confirmed the date for the upcoming title decider between Manchester City and Arsenal.

Ahead of Wednesday evening’s matches, the Gunners enjoy a five point lead over Pep Guardiola’s relentless winning machine, albeit having played a game more.

City looked to be out of the race last month when Arsenal held a nine point lead, before late goals at Anfield and Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland inspired a dramatic comeback against Liverpool and reduced the deficit.

Arsenal’s subsequent slips at Brentford and Wolves means the two teams are likely to be virtually neck-a-neck when they meet at the Etihad Stadium later in the campaign in a game that is likely to be pivotal when it comes to the destination of the Premier League trophy.

The fixture had already been slated for the weekend of April 18, but the Premier League has now announced one of the biggest games of the season will kick-off at 16.30 on April 19 at the Etihad Stadium.

The two sides are already due to meet at Wembley later this month in the Carabao Cup final and could yet lock horns in the latter stages of the FA Cup as well as the Champions League.

A clash of styles is likely to lead to a series of absorbing contests, as and when they arrive, and although Arsenal’s reliance on set-pieces will struggle to win the neutrals over, Guardiola refused to join the growing band of detractors.

Statistics published after last weekend’s fixtures showed Arsenal had scored a league-leading 22 times from set-pieces, while City had managed nine – the 17th-best return in the division.

‘That’s good,’ said the City manager bluntly when the figures were put to him in a press conference.

He suggested he could devote more time to the issue – but has no immediate plans to do so.

‘I don’t have much time,’ he said. ‘I need to rest.’

Despite his long-standing association with ‘beautiful’ football, Guardiola insisted he is unconcerned about how goals arrive.

‘No, no, no,’ the former Barcelona boss said. ‘I want to score goals, I never prepare a plan to be beautiful. No, no, no.

‘That is the business, you have to score goals and the way you do it doesn’t matter.

‘But sometimes we adapt to the quality of the players that we have. When you have Erling Haaland, you have to make more crosses. When you have Nico O’Reilly arriving in the box, you have to make more crosses. When you have Lionel Messi, don’t cross.

‘It depends on what we have and we adapt. When we score goals (from) a corner, a free-kick, wow, I’m so delighted, I’m so happy. This is the truth.’