Manchester City only briefly closed the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday after beating Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad.
A brilliant second-half performance from the Blues saw Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish secure all three points after Julian Alvarez cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s opener. A fourth consecutive league win had closed the gap on Arsenal to five points, but Mikel Arteta’s side beat Leeds United by the same scoreline just a few hours later to re-establish an eight-point gap.
City do have a game in hand over their rivals but know the race will likely to down to the wire once again, with Arsenal holding their nerve despite little experience in this position. Pep Guardiola will host former assistant Arteta at the Etihad later this month, in what is set to be a massive clash.
With just 10 games left to decide the season, MEN Sport has taken a close look at City’s next six league fixtures and compared them with Arsenal’s.
Manchester City – 2nd (64pts)
Southampton (A) – April 8
Leicester City (H) – April 15
Arsenal (H) – April 26
Fulham (A) – April 30
West Ham (H) – May 3
Leeds United (H) – May 7
Verdict: A convincing win over Liverpool on Saturday and City look to have overcome one of their biggest challenges with relative ease while also keeping their winning momentum from before the international break.
Guardiola’s side have games against two relegation candidates in Southampton and Leicester coming up and will want to go into the Arsenal game with six straight wins.
As has been expected for a while now, that game on April 26 is expected to be a major deciding factor in where the trophy ends up. But with Arsenal currently ahead, they will most certainly be the happier of the two with a draw.
Another tough game at Fulham will follow that before two more bottom-half sides in West Ham and Leeds United, the problem being they have so much to play for at this late stage, it will be far from simple.
Arsenal – 1st (72pts)
Liverpool (A) – April 9
West Ham United (A) – April 16
Southampton (H) – April 21
Manchester City (A) – April 26
Chelsea (H) – April 29
Newcastle (A) – May 7
*All fixtures are subject to change
