Sunday evening was one for football on multiple devices. Thunder, lightning and rain in Guwahati meant the second half of the Mohun Bagan Super Giant-NorthEast United couldn’t start on time. When it did, it overlapped with Manchester City-Arsenal; sunny northwest England vying for attention with soggy northeast India. The matches ended close to each other and while victory for Mohun Bagan (more on them in the next section) and Manchester City were significant, neither league is close to being decided yet.
Trophy may come to London
So, first up: Arsenal can win their first league title in 24 years and that alone makes this campaign different from two of their last three second-place finishes. They can also win the Champions League. There was enough in Sunday’s narrow defeat to show that both are possible. Imagine the lift Arsenal’s Premier League campaign can get with a win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
“If they need to be more convinced, I think they are now more convinced (about winning the Premier League)…It’s a new league now…,” said Mikel Arteta. He’s right. The past matters only to remind Arsenal and City how they got here. From here, it’s five matches to the finish, a mini league to decide the champions.
But then, so can City. Both have tough games. Teams in the drop zone are dangerous at this stage of the season and Arsenal play West Ham away. Newcastle would want to finish in the top half and a win away to Arsenal would be crucial. Two of City’s opponents Bournemouth (away) and Aston Villa are in the top half (Arsenal have none).
City may not have Rodri in all those games because of a groin injury. They have been unbeaten in the league since January 17 but City are rebuilding and not at the level of the squads that won six of the last eight league titles. Gianluigi Donnarumma has dithered and City have dropped points against West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton and Chelsea from winning positions. Before Wednesday’s 1-0 win, they had never been ahead of Arsenal at the end of a round.
Leading for over 200 days
Arsenal led for over 200 days and for a long time it seemed this was their title to lose. The home defeat to Bournemouth was possibly the worst because it came during a run when they lost the EFL Cup final to City and were eliminated from the FA Cup by Southampton. But there have been other moments in the league when Arsenal could have put daylight between them and rest. Look no further than draws against Chelsea, Liverpool, Forest and the now-relegated Wolves. The stalemates against Liverpool and Forest came in rounds where City had also dropped points.
For all of City and Arsenal’s emphasis on structure, the goals at the Etihad stemmed from individual efforts. Rayan Cherki has happy feet and the ability to wriggle through traffic like two-wheelers tend to on Indian roads. Erling Haaland used his physique to ward off Gabriel though it would be unfair not to mention the coordinated build-up to it involving Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku after Donnarumma went long. Kai Havertz being alert led to Arsenal’s goal. (The importance of remaining alert at all times was once made by Arteta by hiring pick-pockets at a team session and players found their valuables missing.)
Arsenal have one win in six matches but what makes this campaign different is that through the afternoon they looked City in the eye. Havertz’s header, Gabriel hitting the post, Eberechi Eze missing narrowly—it could have been 2-2. City also needed Donnarumma to get big on Havertz once.
Of Europe’s top five, Bundesliga has been decided, Inter Milan and Barcelona will have to really implode to not win Serie A and La Liga. Paris St-Germain are four points in front in Ligue 1. The Premier League on the other hand can have another “Aguerooooo” moment.
