Man City fans know they shouldn't expect Liverpool favours in title race

Did we really expect anything different? On Wednesday evening the heat turned up a few degrees on Manchester City's title defence, as Liverpool secured a 2-0 win away at Arsenal. The result moved Jurgen Klopp's side to within a point of City at the top of the Premier League, with nine matches remaining for both sides.

Perhaps I'm just a pessimistic Blue, but before a ball had been kicked at the Emirates Stadium I knew what was going to happen. Arsenal are no easy opponents — as City found out on New Year's Day — and in that spirit they set about giving Liverpool as good as they got.

In the second half, the hosts spurned a huge opportunity, Alisson denying Martin Odegaard after Thiago Alcantara had sold the goalkeeper short with a woeful back-pass. It felt like a decisive moment, and that's exactly how it played out.

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Arsenal self-destructed in typical fashion, Aaron Ramsdale throwing a weak wrist in the way of Diogo Jota's near-post effort before Bukayo Saka's failed clearance allowed Andrew Robertson to cross and Roberto Firmino to finish. Liverpool were predictably ruthless, but it felt like Arsenal gave them a huge helping hand.

I'll be honest: I garnered all that by watching the post-match highlights and conversing with some Liverpool and Arsenal-supporting friends. I didn't bother watching the game live, so certain was I that City's goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Monday would be punished.

In fact, you could probably apply that to the season as a whole. "[I] didn’t watch a minute or check the score until now — I didn’t need the added stress when I was pretty sure of the outcome anyway!" wrote City fan