As this season’s Premier League campaign enters the final furlong, the result of the title race is still anybody’s guess.
Will front-runners Arsenal hold on for their first title in 19 years or have pre-season favourites Manchester City timed their charge through the field perfectly in pursuit of a hat-trick of Premier League crowns?
Wednesday night’s clash at the Etihad between these two footballing thoroughbreds will go a long way to answering that question.
The two title protagonists had differing fortunes over the weekend as Arsenal dropped points for the third fixture in a row as they recovered from 3-1 down against Southampton at home on Friday night to draw 3-3.
That result means Manchester City, who beat Sheffield Utd 3-0 at Wembley on Saturday to book a place in the FA Cup final and maintain their treble push, trail the league leaders by only five points with two games in hand.
Both sides will harbour ambitions of winning on Wednesday night, but Manchester City go into the game with imperious form.
They’ve won their last six league games with a combined score of 18-4 and are unbeaten in all competitions since 5th February.
Having beaten Arsenal twice already this season (3-1 away in the league and 1-0 in the FA Cup at home), the reigning champions will be confident in claiming a third victory over the Gunners.
Manchester City are currently on a 10-game winning streak in the Premier League against Arsenal and haven’t lost a league fixture against them since a 2-1 defeat at the Emirates in December 2015.
Arsenal’s recent history at the Etihad isn’t particularly inspiring either.
Mikel Arteta’s side will have to banish the memories of last season’s 5-0 defeat there as they chase a crucial victory at the ground they haven’t won at since January 2015.
Form and history point to only one winner.
As Derek Fox aboard Corach Rambler beautifully demonstrated at this year’s Grand National, a late overtake and strong finish can devastate your opponents.
The men from the blue half of Manchester are now poised to do the same.
Bar three days in February, Arsenal have led the way atop the league table since 20th August but are they beginning to tire?
Two-goal leads surrendered against Liverpool and West Ham have cost them precious points in recent weeks as Pep Guardiola has skilfully manoeuvred his team into a position where eight victories will guarantee the title.
A feat well within their powers.
In the last 10 games of the past six seasons, Manchester City have claimed 145 out of a possible 180 points at an average of just over 24 points per season.
In the 2018/19 campaign, City won their last 14 games to hold off Liverpool in arguably the highest quality title race in Premier League history.
Last season, they again pipped Jurgen Klopp’s side by a single point having gone unbeaten in their last 12 matches, winning nine of those.
Run-ins are their speciality.
This Arsenal team on the other hand find themselves in unchartered territory at this stage of the season battling the best team in Europe right now.
If they are to emulate Messrs Vieira, Henry and Bergkamp and bring the title back to North London, they’ll need to win their remaining six games including encounters against Chelsea and Newcastle.
Those hurdles will take some clearing.
Anything less and Manchester City will have the opportunity to gallop down the finishing straight and reach the winning post first.
Main image photo by Nathan Rogers on Unsplash
