Premier League title race is far from over despite Arsenal’s ‘bottle’

Arsenal have bottled the league again and Manchester City are still the inevitability they’ve always been under Pep Guardiola.

Hold on, aren’t they level on points?

You’re right, I got carried away there for a second. Let’s try again: City’s win over Burnley on Wednesday saw them leap into top spot by virtue of having scored more goals than Arsenal and puts them in pole position to win the title and consign Mikel Arteta’s men to second place again. But don’t fear, Gooners, there’s still a case to be made for you.

Yes, Arsenal have been just not quite good enough in recent seasons.

Yes, momentum has swung firmly in City’s favour.

Yes, Guardiola’s side tend to win all their games in the run-in and break hearts of their closest challengers.

And yes, the atmosphere around Arsenal can be toxic and bleeds onto the pitch.

However, there are still opportunities for Arteta’s side to pile pressure on City.

Much has been made of the psychological edge City have gained by closing the points gap over the past few matchweeks, but Arsenal play twice before Haaland and co dust off their boots again – two wins would put six points between the sides ahead of tricky games for Guardiola against Everton, Brentford and Bournemouth, three teams still fighting for European qualification.

This is not the City side of old. Draws against Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Spurs in recent months are testament to that. This is not the Premier League of old, either. The big teams slip up more than usual. 

So, there’s still a chance?

There’s no getting away from it: Arsenal should have been clear by now. They’ve dropped the ball a number of times when they’ve had the chance to put some distance between them and the rest and are paying the price.

There’s an inherent pessimism that lives in all football fans that is no stronger than in those of an Arsenal persuasion.

You can’t blame them, recent failures have conditioned them to expect dreams to be crushed, in a sad, Pavlov’s dog kind of way. But recent results could actually relieve some of that pressure. 

The past few months have been spent worrying about what would happen if City caught up.

They have, but Arsenal now know exactly what they need to do to have a chance to win the league. The problem is that City do too and while the vibes say they coast to another title from here, in reality it’s much more of a coin toss than that.

One slip is all it takes. Strap in.

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