By Victor Kanayo
With six matches to go in the ongoing 2023/24 football season, the race for the Premier League title took an entirely new turn after latest weekend results favoured Manchester City, the defending champions.
The favour done to City was after co-contenders for the League Crown – Liverpool and Arsenal surprisingly lost their matchday 32 games.
Shock Loss
Curiously, both table leading sides lost at home.
While the Reds succumbed to Crystal Palace defeat, courtesy of Nigerian Eberechi Eze’s stunner, the Gunners were cleared off by Aston Villa coached by former Arsenal Manager Unai Emery.
The victory looked more like a sweet revenge to Emery whose reign at the Emirate ended with no cheers.
After Liverpool fluffed their chances earlier on, there came when Arsenal now handled by Mikel Arteta to take the bull by the horn, but they equally faltered when it mattered most.
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Looking like a repeat of how they lost the title last season to City, most Arteta boys failed to live up to expectation against the Villa guys.
On the contrary, City got the better of Villa at the Etihad Stadium 10 days ago with a crushing 4-1 win. They now hold a two-point lead over their title rivals with just over one month left to go.
Another Etihad Moment?
Now, Pep Guardiola’s men are looking to move a step closer to another Premier League title – as well as complete another possible Treble.
Arsenal’s defeat, their first in 12 league games, sees them remain second, two points behind City and level on points with third-placed Liverpool.
Following Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace earlier, the weekend belonged to City who bolstered their chances of an unprecedented fourth straight league title with a 5-1 demolition of visiting Luton Town on Saturday.
Disappointment, Dispair
For fans of both Reds and Gunners, losing the long-awaited title would be a big disappointment.
“I can’t imagine how Arsenal failed to defeat Aston Villa, though the Villa players have been impressive this season. But I expected my club to remain focused especially after Liverpool lost a day before.
“In any case, the remaining few matches will decide. I really don’t want to see my Gunners not winning this again this season,” an ardent Arsenal fan simply identified as @Arizona on X wrote on Sunday.
And despite many football pundits saying other, popular commentator and former Manchester United man, Gary Neville posited while speaking to SkySports, “You have to trust them you think [to respond to the Aston Villa defeat].
“They need to call upon last season’s experience when they dropped points people didn’t think they would.
“They need to get back on the bike because they’re not out of the title race. It’s going to be tough because of what Man City are but it’s about how Arsenal recover.”
An angry Liverpool fan @Modupe had gone ahead on X platform to vent, “…All hope is not yet. I still believe, keep believing.”
Beyond the outpour of fans’ emotional display, the remaining fixtures still hold the key to decide.
At the moment, City boast of 73 points, Arsenal and Liverpool 71 points apiece with only goal difference separating them.
Again, City hunting for a second successive ‘treble’ of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles in a single season, are next back in league action with a trip to Brighton on April 25.
First, though, they host Real Madrid on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final following last Tuesday’s spectacular 3-3 draw in Spain.
Arsenal, who also remain in the Champions League and face Bayern Munich away on Wednesday, return to league action on April 20 with an away game against Wolverhampton Wanders.
Also, Liverpool, who face Atalanta 3-0 down in their Europa League quarter-final, are away to Fulham on April 21.
A comprehensive look at the finishing matches with dates for the trio clubs in the current season are captured below…
Complete Remaining Fixtures Involving Manchester City
Away – Manchester City vs Brighton (Thursday, April 25)
Away – Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest (April 28)
Home – Manchester City vs Wolves (May 4)
Away – Manchester City vs Fulham (May 11)
Away – Manchester City vs Tottenham (May 14)
Home – Manchester City vs West Ham (May 19)
Complete Remaining Fixtures Involving Arsenal
Away – Arsenal vs Wolves (April 20)
Home – Arsenal vs Chelsea (April 23)
Away – Arsenal vs Tottenham (April 28)
Home – Arsenal vs Bournemouth (May 4)
Away – Arsenal vs Manchester United (May 12)
Home – Arsenal vs Everton (May 19)
Complete Remaining Fixtures Involving Liverpool
Away – Liverpool vs Fulham (April 21)
Away – Liverpool vs Everton (April 24)
Away – Liverpool vs West Ham (April 27)
Home – Liverpool vs Tottenham (May 5)
Away – Liverpool vs Aston Villa (May 13)
Home – Liverpool vs Wolves (May 19)
With so little to separate the three teams heading into the run-in, the title race could go right down to the wire.
All three teams boast home advantage on the final day, but Arsenal also have an extra match at home to look forward to.
In their own pursuit for a top-four finish, Tottenham could inadvertently have a telling mark on where the trophy ends up as they have to play Arsenal, Liverpool and City.
Despite their extra home game, Arsenal perhaps have the toughest run-in with Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United on their schedule.
Owing to FA Cup commitments, City will play catch-up after next weekend’s semi-final showdown with Chelsea.
What The Managers Are Saying
For Arteta, “It was going to happen at some stage. “With the games we had, it was going to happen. Now how we react to it is going to be the key.
“With the amount of games we have won in a row, in any other league in the world you are six or eight points clear. It’s not the case now but this is the challenge.”
On his part, Klopp said, “We feel really, really rubbish. We need a bit of time to process that. It’s a really bad moment … we have to see how we react.
“If we play like we did in the first half, why should we win the league? If we play like we did in the second half, yes we can pick up points here and there. If we play as good as we can, we will go for it.”
Whether the table will turn by the end of the season, remains to be seen.
