Nine points became six became three and if you’re an Arsenal fan you’ve probably stopped sleeping properly.
This is how quickly these things turn. At the end of March, Arsenal were nine points clear at the top of the Premier League with the title looking like it was theirs to lose. Three weeks and two defeats later, Manchester City are just three points behind with a game in hand, unbeaten in ten league games while Arsenal are running out of form at exactly the wrong time.
Sunday’s game at the Etihad had the weight of a title decider about it from the first whistle, and it mostly delivered. Rayan Cherki put City ahead in the 16th minute, Kai Havertz equalised 107 seconds later after a mistake from Gianluigi Donnarumma, and then Haaland settled it in the 65th, his 23rd league goal of the season. There was an altercation between Haaland and Gabriel late on, bookings flying everywhere, Guardiola shown a yellow on the touchline and it was a full experience.
The brutal reality for Arsenal is that they now have to navigate a Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid while trying to hold off the most relentless team in Premier League history in a title race. City’s remaining fixtures include trips to Everton and Bournemouth and a final-day meeting with Aston Villa which is tougher than Arsenal’s run-in on paper, but City have the momentum, the game in hand, and Haaland, and those three things together make them very hard to bet against.
Arsenal still have the points on the board. That lead is real, but the version of Arsenal that wins the title from here looks different from the one that has shown up in recent weeks, and they are running out of time to find form.
