Arsenal have a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table heading into the final month of the season.
Furthermore, they've gone ten games unbeaten in the league - winning seven of them - yet those positives are outweighed by three consecutive draws against Liverpool, West Ham United and Southampton at perhaps the worst possible time and the fixture list doesn't get easier.
Under normal circumstances, a 2-2 draw away at Anfield - despite being 2-0 up - is a great result but when factoring in that the Gunners went on to drop points in the same manner at the London Stadium a week later, these were the first signs of them wilting under the pressure of a title race.
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And even though Arsenal fought back from a two-goal deficit against Southampton on Friday night, it won't become clear until the end of the season as to if it was an important point gained or if they will rue being held at home by the division's bottom side.
With that said, the six-goal thriller at the Emirates Stadium has given the Gunners clarity ahead of Wednesday night's showdown against Manchester City as to keep the title race in their hands, they'll need to become the first team to beat Pep Guardiola's side since the beginning of February.
Although, in the words of Mikel Arteta, his side will have to defend a lot better after conceding seven goals in their last three games: "I don’t see a lack of confidence. When a team does that normally players start to hide. I played there and players start to hide in certain moments," the Spaniard said after the Southampton game.
"I didn’t see a single player do that. They were all willing to take risks and initiative. That’s why we got back from 3-1 to 3-3 and should have won the game. The confidence is there. It’s just those moments. At this level you cannot give the goals away that we did. Simple as that."
Another factor that may concern Arteta ahead of facing his former club is the Gunners' recent record against City. Already this season Guardiola's side won the FA Cup meeting between the two sides and left the Emirates Stadium with all three points just a couple of months ago.
In fact, you have to go back to December 2015 for Arsenal's last victory in this fixture in the Premier League. Having said that, football.london has taken a look at every possible outcome from the huge game and what the state of the title race could be at around 10pm on Wednesday night.
ARSENAL WIN
If Arsenal manage a victory at the Etihad Stadium they'll move eight points clear of the defending champions at the top of the table and will be in a position where a perfect end to the campaign will see them lift the Premier League trophy for the first time in nearly two decades.
Furthermore, the Gunners would have the luxury of knowing that even if City were to win their two games in hand, it wouldn't be enough to see them knocked off the top as the points difference would be two in their favour.
DRAW
If it ends all square at the Etihad, there's no doubt that Man City would be the happier of the two sides as they'll wrestle control of the Premier League title as a result of having two games in hand, which if they win, would see them replace Arsenal at the top of the table.
This result would leave Arsenal needing to win their remaining five fixtures - against Chelsea, Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest and Wolves - and hope Paul Merson is right about Man City dropping points in order to be crowned champions.
MAN CITY WIN
Interestingly, Arsenal are guaranteed to still be at the top of the table regardless of the result. But defeat at the Etihad reduces the gap to just two points and because the Chelsea fixture has been rearranged, City will be the new league leaders if they beat Fulham next Sunday too.
So having lead the way since mid-February, should the Gunners lose on Wednesday night by the time they face Chelsea six days later they could find themselves trailing City and needing a win to reclaim top spot - albeit for 24 hours - as Guardiola's side are back in action at home to West Ham.
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