April 27 – Manager Pep Guardiola hailed the tide turning firmly in the direction of his Manchester City team as they moved into pole position to win their fifth Premier League title in six years.
Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Arsenal, who at one stage had an eight-point lead before a sudden implosion, means City are now champions-in-waiting.
Arsenal may still be top but City are now two points behind with two games in hand. “It is in our hands,” said Guardiola. “Until today, I preferred Arsenal’s position because if Arsenal had beaten us it is in their hands. Now it’s our destiny. I’d love to have six points from these two games (in hand), but we have to win them. We cannot lose our focus.”
“The reality is we’re still behind Arsenal. It will not be easy for us, but it is game by game and we see what happens. When it’s in our hands, we have to use it.”
After 17 games without defeat, it is hard to see City slipping up. Arsenal, meanwhile, have taken only three points from four games as the pressure intensified on one of the youngest squads in the Premier League.
Two-goal leads were thrown away against Liverpool and West Ham, while it took a late comeback to salvage a point against last-place Southampton last week.
“Those players deserve a lot of credit after nine-and-a-half months being here,” said a crestfallen Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta as he tried to accentuate the positive. “There are still five games to play. In 22 years in this country I’ve seen a lot of things and there are not two equal games in this league.
“First we have to lift our players who suffered tonight, playing against an exceptional team. But we are an exceptional team as well. I don’t know what will be required [to win the title]. It’s a difficult one to swallow.”
While neither Guardiola nor Arteta accepted Wednesday’s game was a title decider, it would take a major capitulation for the defending champions to hand the initiative back to the Gunners even though City on paper have a far tougher run-in.
Erling Haaland struck his 49th goal of the season on Wednesday, while Kevin de Bruyne was at his inspirational best, scoring twice.
“Kevin is a master of the assist with or without Erling,” Guardiola said. “Erling scores goals all the time with or without Kevin. But being together, when teams press so high and those balls with space behind, they are so dangerous and we use it.”
Arsenal’s best hope of a first league title since 2004 may now be that fatigue gets to City who remain in the hunt for a treble of trophies, having advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup final.
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