Pep Guardiola: If Man City lose to Arsenal then title race will be over
Pep Guardiola: If Man City lose to Arsenal then title race will be over
Arsenal take on Manchester City this afternoon in the biggest game of their season. The Gunners lead the Premier League title race by six points with six games to go this season. Pep Guardiola’s City have a game in hand on Mikel Arteta’s men, which they will play against Burnley next week. Today’s hosts could move to within three points of the league leaders with a victory today.
Guardiola and City know that anything less than a win will not be enough as they look to chase Arsenal down in the final knockings of a thrilling Premier League season. Guardiola has gone as far as saying that a defeat this afternoon would mean that the title race is over. The Gunners, however, are in patchy form, having won just once in their last five games.
Arteta’s side were unconvincing in their 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon last time out, and they suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat by Bournemouth in their most recent league outing to open the door for City. Stay up to date with all the latest from the Etihad Stadium with our live blog below, including expert insight from Matt Verri at the ground.
All square at the break, and the Gunners will certainly be the happier of the two teams.
City need to keep it up, and more chances will come.
Action Images via Reuters
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
45min: Saliba almost dispossessed by one of Haaland, Cherki or Semenyo but somehow finds a pass to Rice to save his bacon.
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
42min: Two City corners, two great deliveries which require clearances from underneath the crossbar.
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
41min: The intensity of the game continues to lessen as half-time approaches.
A fantastic block from Hincapie to deny Semenyo in the area.
Gabriel and Haaland have been kept apart for most of the half, with Gabriel on Cherki and Haaland largely playing on Saliba.
That's changed the last couple of minutes and they've spent most of that period wrestling each other. No love lost there, it's fair to say.
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
39min: Little bit of a tangle between Gabriel and Haaland on the deck. 50-50 stuff.
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
37min: And now Eze has thrown himself to the floor twice to buy two fouls.
Man City 1-1 Arsenal
36min: Mosquera booked for holding Doku.
The most obvious yellow card in Premier League history.