English Premier League champions Manchester City will have a chance to regain the pole position in the standings when they welcome league leaders Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow.
Both City and Arsenal are on lengthy unbeaten streaks going into what might be the Premier League title game, but City’s momentum may be shifting. Three thrilling draws in a row for Arteta’s team has raised concerns about their composure going into the match.
Against West Ham and Liverpool, they jumped out to early 2-0 leads before being beaten and ending up with 2-2 draws. When playing Southampton, though, they fell behind 2-0 and 3-1 eventually tying the score 3-3 with two goals in the final three minutes. Prior to that, they had won seven straight league contests, including three consecutive victories by three goals or more, giving them 24 out of a possible 30 points.
While they have lost just once in 10 league games, one more than City, and have scored three goals or more in seven of those games, they have lost just once in 12 games across all competitions after losing on penalties to Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last-16 tie.
“If we win tomorrow night we haven’t won the league, that’s for sure. It will shift the percentages a little bit, but with five games left after this, it will still be very tricky. We wanted to close that gap as much as we could and we’re toe-to-toe with them. We knew we had to go to the Etihad. Is it going to define the season? The answer is no.”
William Saliba, a defender, has ongoing back difficulties, which Arteta has said will prevent him from playing against City and, most likely, from playing against Chelsea the following Saturday. Granit Xhaka, a midfielder who missed the match with Southampton, remains questionable. However, he was scheduled to train on Tuesday, and Arteta assured that there were no more injury concerns.
