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“It’s not over,” Mikel Arteta had said on Monday. It feels as if it is, Manchester City just too powerful, as evidenced by their 4-1 dismissal of Arsenal last Wednesday. But Arsenal cannot allow their Premier League title push to fizzle out. They owe it to themselves after the excellent season they have produced.
Mikel Arteta is not a clone of Pep Guardiola but they do have a similar outlook on football. Both came through the Barcelona academy, Arteta spent three years as Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City and both favour a 4-3-3 with a hard press. When shapes and philosophies match, gaining a tactical advantage to outweigh City’s advantages in terms of personnel and form will be tough for Arteta. At the moment, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gündogan or Bernardo Silva are simply a better unit than Arsenal’s three, with Thomas Partey and Martin Ødegaard suffering dips in form and Granit Xhaka struggling with illness.
O nly 11 months have passed since Oleksandr Zinchenko, a force of nature in those final weeks of Manchester City’s campaign, cut back for Rodri to equalise against Aston Villa and haul them to within one goal of the title. The player who retrieved the ball from Robin Olsen’s net and ferried it back towards halfway was Gabriel Jesus, not a scorer that day but far from redundant during the run-in. Jesus would have an indirect role in Ilkay Gündogan’s winner, making a run in behind that forced Tyrone Mings into a loose touch.
Conventional wisdom had it that the league title would be decided at the Etihad next Wednesday but Arsenal may have effectively handed it to Manchester City five days ahead of schedule.
Mikel Arteta has warned Bukayo Saka that he must learn to deal with the increasing hype and excitement surrounding him and insisted the forward still has room for improvement.
E rling Haaland is the overwhelming favourite to win the PFA player of the year award. The 22-year-old has had an immediate impact, scoring 28 goals in the Premier League this season – more than seven of the 20 teams in the division. If he fires Manchester City to the title, he will be hard to overlook.
This will have made stressful viewing for a manager who values control as much as Mikel Arteta. For neutrals it was fine entertainment, though, and Arsenal can at least reflect they are just about in the box seat for a place in the Europa League quarter-finals. An unfussy first-leg advantage over Sporting seemed possible when William Saliba scored midway through the first half, but Goncalo Inacio quickly equalised and the chances flowed at both ends after that. Paulinho converted one for Sporting after half-time but Arsenal’s own swift riposte, delivered through Hidemasa Morita’s unlucky own goal, ensured parity. Arteta will hope for a more composed display at the Emirates next week.
As the oles rang out from the Arsenal support with 15 minutes to go, the victory in the bag, Everton looking broken, it was possible to wonder how on earth they had lost to the same opposition at Goodison Park at the beginning of February.