Presently, Arsenal are eight points clear at the top as they endeavour to win their first league title for close to two decades and the Premier League betting odds reflects their healthy lead.
The Gunners are 4/6 to be victorious come May, no doubt prompting wild celebrations across one half of North London.
Manchester City, for their part, are 5/4 in the football betting, their lean odds partly explained by a game in hand they hold over their new and unexpected rival while a forthcoming, blockbusting six-pointer between these sides is also a significant factor.
In all likelihood, a home win on April 26th beneath the Etihad lights, will put Pep Guardiola’s men firmly back in contention.
There is however another reason why City should be fancied to ultimately prevail, despite the sizable points difference, and it’s got very little to do with the current state of play, or even who has got the toughest run-in.
It’s because at this juncture of a title-chasing campaign, the Blues have proven form for turning into match-winning, pressure-negating machines.
That was certainly the case in 2018/19, when City went head-to-head all season long against a formidable Liverpool creation that frankly looked unstoppable, going into the new year unbeaten.
A rare defeat by the reigning champions in the north-east left them five points adrift of the relentless Reds going into February and even this slender gap left many to believe the league crown was destined for Anfield. Certainly, City would have to be immaculate from that point on.
And remarkably they were, signing off their season with 14 straight wins, all of them accompanied by suffocating tension, in each game knowing that a single slip-up would cost them dear.
By the conclusion of this titanic struggle, Liverpool finished one point short despite losing just once all season.
Aside from admiring such fortitude under extreme duress, what is most pertinent from City’s imperious feat is how it differed to their successful run-in the season before.
Then, 38 points were picked up from a possible 45 from mid-January onwards as they romped uncontested for their first title under Guardiola, and as they marched to an unprecedented century of points, opponents were deconstructed in trademark style.
It was, all told, an exhibition of their greatness down the final straight.
Yet one year on, with each result essential, we saw another side to the Catalan’s collective. We saw the grit and belief and craftiness that all lie beneath this generational side who are routinely capable of playing wonderfully expressive football but also have in their arsenal the ability to grind.
On five occasions, City won out 1-0, each time eking down the clock, closing the game off. Just doing enough.
This we saw in evidence once again last term, when astonishingly the 2018/19 campaign was nigh-on repeated. This time, Liverpool lost only twice all season but they still had no response to City unbeaten streak from mid-February on keeping them at bay.
Even a final-day near-disaster at home to Aston Villa was navigated, the Blues coming from two down to secure a fourth title in five years. Once again, they found a way.
All of which should be immensely concerning to the Gunners as City pick up the pace once more with the finish line almost in sight.
Since losing to Spurs in – you’ve guessed it – February, Guardiola’s men have been superb, accruing 19 points from 21 and overcoming every obstacle put in their way. We have seen this movie before.
Very likely then, Arsenal will need to be all-but-perfect from now until the season’s end. But as Liverpool will sorely attest, even that is not always enough.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
