Last week, I wrote that Manchester City had to intervene and stop the Arsenal title march, mainly for my own personal enjoyment. While some of you rightfully didn't appreciate that, you can't argue with the results. Arsenal came out on Sunday at City's stadium ready to play and still lost, 2-1, ceding control of the title race with just five matches left in its season.
The stats won't back the argument that Arsenal did anything particularly exciting yesterday, at least at face value. City dominated possession, 59-41, and had 15 shots to Arsenal's nine (five to three on target differential). Arsenal's only goal came from a Gianluigi Donnarumma mistake:
And yet, Arsenal created open play chances, put pressure on City's goal especially early in the second half, and was probably unlucky to not take the lead on the hour mark. Kai Havertz shot just close enough to Donnarumma for the save; a minute later, Eberechi Eze hit the post with a laser of a shot. (An unnamed Defector staffer joked after the Havertz chance that Arsenal wouldn't get a better one again, only to get a better one a minute later. I'm not even making fun of that staffer, whoever it might be; it just speaks to how close Arsenal was to scoring again.) Even with the loss, there were positives all around for Arsenal, maybe none more important than how good Martin Odegaard looked; a healthy Odegaard might be enough to ride out the rest of the season without dropping the title. City was the better team on Sunday and deserved the three points, but this wasn't the romp it could have been.
That being said ... oh my, City really has none of the pressure right now. Following last weekend's 3-0 win against Chelsea with a one-goal victory against the title leaders has to do wonders for City's confidence. This is a juggernaut built with buckets of cash and a certain lax attitude toward the rules, and while it took some time to roar to life this season, it's there now. Rayan Cherki has gone from a nice piece to the most exciting soccer player plying his trade in England, maybe in the world. He might not be a complete player yet, or one that affects the game for 90 minutes, but City doesn't really need him to be when he can create "magic," as teammate Nico O'Reilly said after the match.
It's easy to diminish transfer successes on City's part, given that the club's infinite coffers allow for plenty of mistakes, but the Cherki signing has accomplished what it was supposed to, and the Frenchman is only improving. On the flip side, just about everyone expected that Erling Haaland would move over to City and become the top striker in the Premier League, so it's not surprising that he scored the winner on Sunday:
What was surprising is how quiet Arsenal kept Haaland for about an hour. Only in the final 30 minutes did he really begin to threaten the Gunners' backline. There was also his confrontation with Gabriel, which probably should have seen the Brazilian center back sent off for a headbutt motion; Haaland astutely noted after the match that he could have drawn a red card with a flop to the ground there. That's City's advantage over essentially every club in the world, by design: To have the most dangerous striker isolated for two-thirds of a match, only to activate him like a sleeper cell when he's most needed, is a luxury that Pep Guardiola can rely on more often than not.
Even with Sunday's result, this is still probably, maybe, possibly, Arsenal's Premier League title to lose. The Gunners have an easier schedule the rest of the way, and it's really hard to win every match for a month, as City now must do to keep control of the title race. City will play on Wednesday against Burnley, while Arsenal has to deal with the Champions League semifinal against Atlético Madrid; the first leg is on April 29, and the return is on May 5. Even if both sides win all their league matches, the relative ease of Arsenal's schedule might allow it to hold on to the goal differential lead it currently has (+37 to City's +36), which would give it a tiebreak title on 85 points.
In other words, Arsenal did not lose the title when Havertz's last-gasp header went just over the bar in the fifth minute of stoppage time, effectively sealing City's victory, but it made everything a bit more difficult. Given how the Sky Blues are playing right now, I don't know that I would wager against them to complete this comeback, but as Declan Rice himself said after the loss, "it's not done" just yet. That's a good attitude to have, certainly, but Rice can't simply speak that into existence. Arsenal has to go out and do it.
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