City, Arsenal clash in potential Premier League title decider

LONDON: Arsenal are discovering the brutal reality about going toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the final stretch of a Premier League title race.

Perfection is pretty much essential. And at the moment, Arsenal are far from perfect.

Three straight draws — the most recent coming at home against Southampton, the league’s last-place team — has seen the long-time leaders lose the initiative, but not quite first place.

Arsenal’s credentials are being seriously questioned ahead of the ultimate test in English soccer and what many are billing a title decider: An away match against City.

“We really want it and we are going to show it again tomorrow night, but you have to deliver in the right moment the right performance, and it has to be perfection,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said Tuesday. “Because that’s what this last level demands — absolute perfection.”

It’s something City are getting used to producing at this stage of the season. Just ask Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, whose team fell short of the title despite posting points totals of 97 (in 2018-19) and 92 (in 2021-22) while up against the City juggernaut.

In the first of those duels, City closed the league campaign with 14 straight victories to win the title by a point. Last season, the difference between the teams was also a point after City went their final 12 games unbeaten, winning 10 of them.

And the team coached by Pep Guardiola are at it again. Heading into Wednesday’s game at Etihad Stadium, City are on a 16-game unbeaten run in all competitions, taking 25 points from a possible 27 in the league in that period.

Put simply, City have become a master at pacing their season.

“When we won our first Premier League title (under Guardiola) with 100 points