By Muheeb Mashood
Manchester City sets to host frustrating Arsenal on Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium for a decisive showdown in the Premier league title race.
The defending champions took a dreadful move in the beginning of the season after signing poacher striker Erling Haaland. Thus, everyone ticked Guordiala’s side as the favorites to lift the Premier League title for the third consecutive time.
However, the Gunners staged a dramatic run this season, cementing themselves at the top of the table since last year, aiming to clinch onto the showpiece for the first time in 19 years after 2003/2004 Thiery Henry’s led invincible season.
Now sitting top with 75 points, five points ahead closet rivals Man City; their Wednesday’s clash with Pep Guordiala’s men who have a game at hand will likely zoom the winners of the title race.
The Gunners were comfortably cruising on 11 points lead, before everything started to slip off their hands with the last coming on the shocking 2-2 draw against Liverpool and West Ham respectively and 3-3 against Southampton.
Arsenal is under pressure to lose the title as they are liable to lose the fiesta against City, having lost all their last five matches against Pep’s side and even losing two in the ongoing season.
City’s forward Gabriel Jesus will be ready to stun his previous team when he plays against them for the first time after he left the club. Meanwhile Arsenal is suffering from a huge blow as William Saliba will miss the clash following an injury he picked up since they bow out from the Europa League against Sporting Lisbon on penalty shootouts.
Also, Arteta’s key man Granit Xhaka is likely to miss the match as he was not available in their clash in the weekend due to an illness.
Meanwhile, Man City’s Erling Haaland is still on the line, and will hope to extend his goalscoring record. He has scored 32 goals in 28 appearances tied with Liverpool’s Mohammed Sallah to record the most goals in a single Premier League season.
According to Supersport, a victory for Arsenal against City will boost their chance to claim the title to over 50%. While a loss drops it to a frustrating 9%.