Guardiola’s City squad have an advantage in that they’ve done this before, crushing opposing fans’ souls as they win out. Famously they beat Liverpool to the title twice by a single point. They know how to win.
If Arsenal can put in a solid shift and win by a few goals this weekend against Newcastle, it will help their mentality immensely. But if they play poorly or drop points, you can only see the nerves continuing to fray.
Elsewhere there really is panic in the streets of London as Chelsea and Spurs are both in freefall. Chelsea followed Tottenham’s road map and fired their second manager of the season this week after Liam Rosenior was let go after the Blues lost their fifth game in a row this week, 3-0 to Brighton.
Chelsea will have an interim manager in place this weekend for their FA Cup semifinal versus Leeds, but with just four games to go, they’re seven points behind Liverpool for the last Champions League spot.
Brighton and Bournemouth have both moved past Chelsea to leave them in eighth spot. If Brentford beat Manchester United and Everton beat West Ham this weekend, Chelsea would fall to 10th place.
Not where you’d think they’d be after spending $2.8 billion on players in the past four years.
And then there’s Tottenham. With four games to go, they’re still in the relegation zone. They did get a point last week in a draw with Brighton, but that only matched West Ham, who also got a point. Nottingham Forest won, so they’ve moved five points clear of Spurs, so it looks like it’s down to another London battle between Tottenham and West Ham to see who joins Wolves and Burnley in the Championship next season.
Here’s a look at both teams run ins:
**Tottenham:** Wolves (a), Aston Villa (a), Leeds (h), Chelsea (a), Everton (h)
**West Ham:** Everton (h), Brentford (a), Arsenal (h), Newcastle (a), Leeds (h)
It may all come down to how much impact new Spurs manager Roberto Di Zerbi has, but on paper it looks like you’d pencil in two wins for each team, so it may come down to eking out a draw or two.
**Brighton:** Won four and drawn one in their past five to move up to sixth. They’re five points behind Liverpool who, while they’ve won their past two, have faltered numerous times this season when they looked like they were on track. Liverpool play Chelsea, Manchester United, Brentford and Aston Villa after they play Palace this weekend. Brighton can easily close a five-point gap if the Reds falter again. Can you imagine the Seagulls in the Champions League?
**Bournemouth:** A tiny squad, but they’ve just found a way to get things done. They lost three of their starting four back line and their starting goalkeeper in the summer. Then they had their best player, Antoine Semenyo, pilfered by Manchester City in the January transfer window when they triggered an automatic release clause. They just keep finding ways to get points.
**Nottingham Forest:** Like Spurs and Chelsea, hired a new manager, saw it was the wrong choice and fired them. Chelsea and Spurs will be hoping for similar results to Vitor Pereira as two wins and three draws in their past five has them on the cusp of safety for next season.
**Arsenal:** As noted above, two losses in a row isn’t the end of the world, but how is it going to affect their psyche in the last five games?
**Spurs:** Yeah, it’s not good.
**Newcastle:** Is this the end of the road for manager Eddie Howe? While the Saudi Sports Investment group looks to have lost interest in LIV Golf and may be pulling the plug there, are they going to feel the same about their EPL venture? They’re in 14th place and have lost three in a row.
**Chelsea:** Losing five in a row and losing a shot at the Champions League funds that are needed to balance the books just isn’t great math.
**Saturday:** Fulham vs Aston Villa; Liverpool vs Crystal Palace; West Ham vs Everton; Wolves vs Tottenham; Arsenal vs Newcastle.
**Monday:** Manchester United vs Brentford.