And then it was gone. Just over three weeks ago, Arsenal beat Manchester United with a last-minute goal to take an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Arsenal has not won since, and, with a 3–1 win at the Emirates, Manchester City went top of the Premier League table Wednesday.
City is first only on goal difference, and Arsenal has a game in hand, but a run of four games without a win, including one point from three league games suggests a team beginning to stutter. Arsenal was probably the better side in the first half, but it paid for a lack of incisiveness in front of goal and, ultimately, was undone by two moments of sloppiness at the back.
All the momentum that was behind its title charge in the first half of the season now seems against it, even if City is still far from its best. It’s true that the title is still in Arsenal’s hands, but given it has to go to City in April, that may not mean too much. Nor, in the past four games, has there been anything to suggest Arsenal is likely suddenly to embark on a long winning run. Its fans may point to the Brentford equalizer Saturday that was clearly offside, but Brentford in truth created more than enough chances to have won the game, never mind drawing it. A spark has gone out of its play.
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It may be that the crucial factor in Arsenal’s challenge was the death of the Queen. This game was originally scheduled for late October but was postponed to make way for Arsenal’s Europa League tier against PSV Eindhoven after it had been postponed during the period of state mourning. Arsenal was in its best form of the season, while City was coming off the back of its defeat at Liverpool. Perhaps City would have won that anyway, but the result of the rescheduling was that Arsenal faced its biggest game of the season in the midst of a wobble.
With a little more precision, Arsenal might have had the lead in the first half. It did have chances. Eddie Nketiah put a header wide from a superb Oleksandr Zinchenko cross and then Bukayo Saka dithered when well placed. English football has become used to City dominating games, but it was not able to do that here, as Arsenal had 59.5% of possession before halftime. But it was City that took the lead. Kevin De Bruyne has been out of sorts since his return from the World Cup but, presented with a chance as Takehiro Tomiyasu left a backpass short, he took the opportunity superbly, lofting the ball first-time over the advancing Aaron Ramsdale.
As Arsenal struggled to create clear openings, that looked as though it would be enough to give City the halftime lead but six minutes before the break Nketiah ran onto a Granit Xhaka through ball. Nketiah nudged the ball past Ederson and, although Nathan Aké hooked his shot off the line, the goalkeeper followed through into the forward to concede a penalty against which City’s players furiously protested. There was a long delay before Saka was able to take it, but he converted calmly.
Left back has become a problem position for Guardiola since he sold Zinchenko to Arsenal and pushed João Cancelo out on loan to Bayern. Aké and Aymeric Laporte have both played there, but both are central defenders, and so the preference recently has been for a back three. It initially looked as though that was what he was doing again at the Emirates, but Bernardo Silva, rather than being deployed in a curious deep-left-sided midfield role as he was against Aston Villa on Sunday, was used almost as an orthodox left back—albeit with the familiar Guardiola trait of drifting into central midfield when City was in possession. Up against Saka, that was always going to be a risk, and Silva had fouled him four times before finally picking up a yellow card just before halftime. Both the second and third fouls could also easily have been bookings.
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That seemed an area Arsenal could exploit, but Manuel Akanji came on after 61 minutes to take over at left back and liberate Silva, and from then on City took control. Aké had hit the bar in first-half injury time, and only a tight offside denied Erling Haaland a penalty. But the goal was coming, and it arrived after 72 minutes, Jack Grealish sweeping in with the aid of a deflecting after a flowing move. Haaland tucked in a third with eight minutes remaining, and the game was won.
It would be too much to say the title was won as well, but it certainly took a huge lurch toward City.
