If Arsenal didn’t know already who their biggest Premier League title challengers were, they certainly do now.
This weekend firmly placed Manchester City as the team that **Mikel Arteta**’s side must beat to the finish line in May if they are to secure the club’s first league title in 22 years.
It wasn’t just City’s result against Liverpool that made the statement, but also the performance that highlighted Pep Guardiola’s team are returning to the familiar fight at the top of the table.
Such was City’s display in the 3-0 triumph that the visitors were left overwhelmed and looking like a team that simply couldn’t cope with an opponent now with 11 wins from their last 13 games across all competitions.
Perhaps most importantly for Guardiola, it seemed to strengthen the feeling among his players and their supporters that they are ready to fight for the title. Last season’s slump, when they just about finished a top-four position, feels a long time ago.
This City side are not as perfect as some of the previous versions under Guardiola but they are showing they’re capable of playing in different ways and winning by variable means. Their experience will count for a lot, too.
City’s fortunes now compared to last November are best embodied by Jeremy Doku. The Belgian winger was low on confidence and couldn’t tie all the elements of his game together during last term’s struggles.
Whereas now he is experiencing a new lease of life and performing at the highest level since joining City two seasons ago. His man-of-the-match display, which he capped with a goal, verged on him being unplayable as he dovetailed electric wing play with midfield majesty.
The 23-year-old became the first player since Eden Hazard in **Chelsea**’s match against West Ham United in 2019 to record a goal, 10+ dribbles, 10+ duels won, 3+ chances created and 3+ shots on target in a single Premier League match.
“I feel like I just have confidence,” said Doku, who was making his 100th appearance for the club. “I want to play without any fear or doubt or anything.
“I’m 23 years old. I hope this is not my peak level. I hope I can still improve, improve my finishing, improve my movements in the box, improve my decision-making, improve on my awareness when I have the ball – a lot.
“This is an unfinished product and I hope with these team-mates, and a very good coach like Pep, I can still improve.”
Guardiola will seek further improvement across the board, as this team are still nowhere near the finished article — even if the likes of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Doku are hitting career-best levels.
It has taken time for City to rebuild after an ageing squad had to be refreshed following a period of unchartered success, but there is the growing sense that they are beginning to find their stride again. Players such as Matheus Nunes, Nico Gonzalez and Nico O’Reilly are establishing themselves, too.
“We have been building and we know that we can still improve,” Doku added. “We’re not really looking at Arsenal though, what the other teams are doing, because at the end of the day, we know that it depends only on us. And we know that if we are playing well, it’s difficult to stand next to us.”
Going into this weekend, Arsenal were six points clear at the top of the table. That lead would have been extended to nine points had they not been denied by **Brian Brobbey**’s stoppage-time equaliser for Sunderland on Saturday. Instead, after City’s win, Arsenal’s lead is down to four points.
Liverpool's title defence looks over already
Eleven games down and another 27 to go means this season’s title race is still in its infancy — but Liverpool’s title defence looks all but over already.
Arne Slot said it was not on his mind following the heaviest league reverse of his Anfield career to date. Rather, putting together a sequence of positive results is at the forefront of the head coach’s mind.
This was their fifth defeat in just 11 league games and their seventh in the past 10 across all competitions. For all the positivity that greeted back-to-back victories against Aston Villa and Real Madrid over the previous eight days, this was in some ways their most chastening defeat so far.
There is a gentler-looking run of matches to come after the international break — five games between now and January 1 against bottom-five sides — but Slot has many issues to address.
Against Madrid, they relished the opportunity to bully their illustrious opponents. Against City, not for the first time this season, they looked short across the pitch: defensive rigour, midfield aggression and attacking intensity.
Florian Wirtz is currently viewed as the epitome of this weak-looking side as the German playmaker is struggling to assert himself. Finding a solution to that particular £116m issue should be a priority for Slot.
If there were doubts over whether it would be City or Liverpool who establish themselves as the threat to Arsenal’s hopes, then the answer seems pretty clear now as one builds momentum and the other continues to fluctuate wildly.
Teams have recovered from far bigger deficits than the eight points that stand between them and Arsenal, but, to be blunt, Liverpool have not looked up to the fight.
“I don’t think you can talk about the title this early on in the season, regardless of what position you’re in – but you need to consistently start winning games again for that to even come into the question,” said Andy Robertson.
“*We just need to get back to the levels that we know we can. If we do that on a more regular basis, then we’ll pick up more points than we won’t. But obviously, we’ve given ourselves a huge uphill battle.*”
City, meanwhile, will look forward to the winter slog having sprung out of the autumn.