If there was a turning point in this season’s Premier League title race, it may have come at a surprising moment: when Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium last month.
On the face of it, that looked at the time like a hugely damaging defeat for Arsenal, who had seen a comfortable lead at the top of the table rapidly evaporate, something which was becoming all too familiar for Gunners fans who’d seen capitulations of this kind before.
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And yet, it seems like it fired Arsenal up, with the feeling being that Man City over-celebrated that result, according to the Independent.
The report read: “If there were obviously some key victories over the course of the season, this was an influential defeat.
“The worst had happened in losing 2-1 but it hadn’t happened in the worst way. There was even a sense that City had celebrated that victory too much. Arsenal felt emboldened, and encouraged. Declan Rice’s line, ‘this is not over’, was not – well – just a line.”
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Arsenal win first title in 22 years, but did Man City bottle it?
For all the talk of Arsenal being bottlers, they’re now finally champions of England again after a 22-year wait, and, in fact, it looks now like it was City who messed up the league from a strong position.
Pep Guardiola’s side got that crucial win over their rivals but quickly handed momentum back to Mikel Arteta’s men with a crazy 3-3 draw away to Everton.
City had taken the lead in that game, but then conceded three goals in a 13-minute spell in the second half to find themselves trailing. They hit back with two late goals of their own to come away with a draw, but when it comes to the run-in, a draw is often about as useful as a defeat.
That proved to literally be the case on Tuesday night, with City knowing only a win at Bournemouth would take the title race to the final day, only for the Cherries to put in the better performance in a 1-1 draw that flattered City.
Difficult summer ahead for Manchester City?
It will be interesting to see how City rebuild from here, with Guardiola widely expected to step down as manager and be replaced by Enzo Maresca, as per BBC Sport and others.
We also already know that influential and experienced players like Bernardo Silva and John Stones are out of contract and leaving, while there could even be doubts over Rodri, who has been linked with Real Madrid by Marca.
Of course, winning both domestic cups is not to be sniffed at, but City have had exceptionally high standards in the last decade or so, and this is perhaps not the best way for them to prepare for the start of a new era.
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