Premier League 2023: Manchester City on verge of title win after Brighton stun Arsenal, see

Manchester City are one win away from a third consecutive Premier League title and fifth in six seasons under Pep Guardiola. English football’s dominant force was tested by a new rival in the form of Arsenal, but Mikel Arteta’s team have buckled under the pressure of trying to keep pace with Guardiola’s relentless trophy-winning machine.

While the race is not over yet, it would require a remarkable collapse for City to throw it away now. “We have to apologize to our people, especially for the second half,” Arteta said after his team’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

It was the fifth time in seven matches that Arsenal had dropped points in the final week of the season. By comparison, City’s 3–0 win against Everton earlier in the day extended their unbeaten run to 21 games in all competitions, including 11 straight wins in the league.

Watch Brighton celebrate victory over Arsenal here…

The boys were happy with that win! , pic.twitter.com/kFTDly18dG– Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) May 14, 2023

City have been near-perfect, while Arsenal’s challenge has melted in the heat of the fight, with second-half goals from Brighton’s Julio Enkiso, Deniz Undav and Parvis Estupinen all but ending the Gunners’ hopes of a first title in 19 years. done. “We fought really hard to be in the position we are in and today we were at an important moment to hope and dig for that dream,” Arteta said. “When you have to play in these moments, you cannot do what we did in the second half.

“Then we’ll have to see. If a team is able to do that on the biggest stage, there are a lot of things to analyze and think about because it can’t happen.”

The truth is that Arsenal’s slump began long before Sunday’s painful defeat. After leading the table for most of the season, it was eight points clear of City at the start of April, having played one game more.

But within six weeks of City’s 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium last month, there has been a 12-point turnaround in Guardiola’s side. It is a measure of the extent to which Arsenal’s form has dropped that they can afford to lose twice against City and still keep the title in hand. Instead, the real loss came in back-to-back draws against Liverpool and West Ham when Arteta’s men gave up two-goal leads on both occasions.

This was followed by another draw at home to last-placed Southampton, who headed into that performance at City when the superiority of Guardiola’s team on the night confirmed how well Arsenal had done to run the race so close. City can be crowned champions with a win against Chelsea on Sunday but could seal the title even earlier if Arsenal lose to Nottingham Forest the day before.

“Mathematically, it is still possible (to win the title), but it is impossible to think about it today,” Arteta said.

Arsenal have 81 points – four behind City’s 85. And while its progress this season has been outstanding, Arteta may be looking back on a missed opportunity given his flighty start to the campaign and City’s inconsistency after finishing fifth last year with 69 points. Right from the beginning.

Arsenal won nine of their first 10 games in the league. When City lost 1–0 against Tottenham in early February, the defending champions were five points behind, with one game more played. They haven’t lost another game since and barring the most unexpected of twists, it’s a run that has put them on course for another title and potentially the Champions League and FA Cup are still in Guardiola’s sights .

Pep Guardiola wants Ilkay Gundogan

With four goals in his last two Premier League games, Ilkay Gundogan is currently outscoring Erling Haaland. And with the Germany international out of contract in the summer and linked with a move to Barcelona, ​​he will leave a huge hole for Guardiola to fill in midfield. A possible replacement – Jude Bellingham – is reportedly close to sealing a deal with Real Madrid, leaving Guardiola to look elsewhere for a substitute.

On Sunday, the City manager said he had not given up hope of persuading Gundogan to sign a new deal at the club. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen, maybe he’ll stay, hopefully,” Gundogan said after scoring twice in City’s win at Everton. “He can show time and again the quality and the importance and his commitment, to all of us, to the club, not just scoring goals. He can do everything and everything well.”