Manchester City stood up in the way champions tend to, to set up a sprint to the finish. The great question is again how a deflated Arsenal are going to respond, but the great concern is that they are now in a shoot-out with a team who simply score more. On Wednesday, City can go top by beating doomed Burnley.
That higher quality in attack ultimately told and the game distilled multiple recent trends. While Arsenal’s one goal came from reactive opportunism, City’s two were from attacking incision.
There was Rayan Cherki’s brilliance. There was Gianluigi Donnarumma’s perceptive throw, redeeming himself for the earlier error for Kai Havertz’s goal. There was then Erling Haaland, finally scoring again at the most important time.
Arsenal didn’t have that kind of forward. They instead had Havertz, who can be a fine player in so many ways but who, here, might have been responsible for the defining moment of the title race. Sadly for Arsenal, it was an injury-time header over the bar. That was the chance.
It was the most agonising for Mikel Arteta of many near misses in this game. Might it all now contribute to the greatest miss of all, and the loss of a title that they have had so many chances to seize?
It’s not over yet, of course, but this was a huge result, as well as psychologically significant.
While there is going to be a lot of fair criticism for Arsenal, there is a fair discussion to be had over whether all of this is also the result of wider forces. City’s wage bill is at least £80m more than Arteta’s and that has manifested itself: with Pep Guardiola’s side having that extra-level forward.
It may ultimately prove to be the difference.
Marc Guehi, signed in January when Guardiola faced injuries in defence, was superb. City, for their part, would also point to more human elements; their mettle, their experience.
Haaland had only scored three Premier League goals in 2026, and none since 11 February. He picked exactly the right game and moment to remind what he’s really about.
Having got around Gabriel for the key goal – a brilliantly instinctive finish – the Norwegian also got into his head. Gabriel was fortunate not to be sent off for moving his head into Haaland’s, and was maybe lucky the striker didn’t go down.
Arsenal might well point to other decisions, like when Havertz was through early in the second half.
There was another potential one on one that stands out in terms of the story of the game. When Havertz again looked like getting through, there was Bernardo Silva.
Set to leave in the summer, he saved one of his best performances for his final weeks. The Portuguese was everywhere City needed him to be.
Rodri also reminded everyone of his class, putting his foot on the ball and controlling proceedings in the way the game warranted.
Arsenal don’t have that nous. It’s almost tantalisingly self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating in a way. Arsenal won’t develop that experience – “unlock” that mindset, as people at the club say – until they actually win but that is the final barrier to cross.
Almost the greater frustration for Arteta’s side is that this was generally a good performance, in a high-quality, high-stakes game. They got it tactically right and created the chances they needed. The frame of the goal was hit twice – by Eberechi Eze and Gabriel.
It wasn’t the tepid level of recent weeks. But Arsenal can’t afford to just give a good account of themselves anymore. They can only look to the table, where they will now see City leapfrog them should they win on Wednesday.
They needed to get it done, to step up, or do any of the usual things that are described when titles come down to the crunch. Instead they fell short.
It isn’t done yet, of course. Arsenal still have a three-point lead and five games left, while City have six.
There is the potential for further twists, especially with the Champions League and FA Cup possibly complicating the run-in. City may have congestion right at the end. Arsenal have to respond next week, when they play Newcastle United at home as City play in an FA Cup semi-final.
There are two problems for Arsenal within that, separate to how City are coming to an April-May peak in the way Guardiola always ensures.
Arteta’s side are faltering. That’s now two successive defeats in the league, to go with four in six in all competitions, when they’d previously lost three in 49. That’s how a six-point lead is frittered away at the wrong moment. That’s what leads to talk of crashes and bottles, as well as of mentality.
There’s then the way this very race is developing. It’s looking like it’s going to come down to how many goals you can score, which raises an obvious issue when one team has been set up for minimalism and the other to open out.
There might be one final irony there for Arteta, his tactical conservatism ultimately costing him.
Here, in another irony, the key goal came when their defensive structure was finally stretched. Donnarumma exposed it, with Nico O’Reilly – one of the players of the season – tearing through them and setting up Haaland.
The Basque and his staff would insist they have to make compromises and certain calculations when it comes to trying to go the distance in a league that features this version of City.
But has he gone too far? Can they now change emphasis if they have to open out?
City have changed the entire race. A title that had looked Arsenal’s to lose is again Guardiola’s to win.
