{"id":19582,"date":"2026-04-20T02:42:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19582"},"modified":"2026-04-20T02:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:42:04","slug":"with-loss-at-man-city-have-arsenal-lost-their-grip-on-the-premier-league-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19582","title":{"rendered":"With loss at Man City, have Arsenal lost their grip on the Premier League? | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In what was billed as the biggest Premier League game in years, Arsenal\u2019s defeat on Sunday against title rivals Manchester City could prove to be a fatal blow to their hopes of ending an agonising 22-year wait for football glory.<\/p>\n

Arsenal appeared to have one hand on the English Premier League trophy for months, but City are now just three points behind them, with momentum and a game in hand when they face Burnley on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n

list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

A win for Pep Guardiola\u2019s men will see them replace his once-protege Mikel Arteta\u2019s side at the top of the table.<\/p>\n

In a frenetic first half at the Etihad Stadium, Rayan Cherki opened the scoring for City before a mistake by Gianluigi Donnarumma was seized upon by Arsenal\u2019s Kai Havertz to bring his side level.<\/p>\n

The equaliser, which came out of nothing, got the Arsenal fans believing that it might be their day, and their season.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Erling Haaland\u2019s relentless pursuit of a winner in the crucial fixture paid off with a second-half goal.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the pitch, Havertz missed with a late header that could have brought yet another plot twist to this Premier League season\u2019s saga.<\/p>\n

It prompted City fans to point towards a banner that read: \u201cPanic on the streets of London\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Manchester City fans came prepared to celebrate a crucial win over Arsenal [Scott Heppell\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advantage, Manchester City<\/h2>\n

Once the full-time whistle was blown, pundits agreed that City\u2019s triumph could be the decisive act in the title race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said all along whoever wins that game will win the league,\u201d former City player Micah Richards said on Sky Sports, where he found fellow expert Gary Neville in agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity have got a massive advantage now,\u201d the former Manchester United and England right-back chimed in.<\/p>\n

However, Arsenal manager Arteta was defiant after the game and insisted that the trophy is still the Gunners\u2019 to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in our hands and there for the taking\u201d, he said. Realistically, though, he now needs Guardiola\u2019s team to slip up.<\/p>\n

Arsenal began the season all guns blazing and lost just three of their first 49 games in all competitions.<\/p>\n

A month ago, the North London club\u2019s fans were dreaming of a historic \u201cquadruple\u201d of trophies.<\/p>\n

A defeat to City in the final of the English League Cup, on March 22, seriously wounded Arsenal, as the 2-0 loss wasn\u2019t just a bad result, but a tame performance. Within a week, another trophy had disappeared, this time in an FA Cup quarterfinal defeat to second-tier Southampton.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, sports statistics service Opta gave Arsenal a greater than 97 percent chance of becoming champions, when victory over Bournemouth would have taken them 12 points clear at the top.<\/p>\n

Now they are barely clinging on to the top spot.<\/p>\n

There is time for at least one more momentum swing, but Arteta is starting to look like a wilting frontrunner, with the vastly more experienced Guardiola on his shoulder ready to sprint past in the final straight. Guardiola has led City to six Premier League titles in his decade in charge.<\/p>\n

Arteta came through Barcelona\u2019s youth ranks at the end of the 1990s while Guardiola was a senior pro, then spent three years as fellow Spaniard Guardiola\u2019s assistant at Manchester City before taking the helm at Arsenal in 2019. The \u201capprentice versus the master\u201d narrative has added to the drama of the title tussle.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s manager has been playing down the pressure his team is feeling, but his attempts to convey calm aren\u2019t always convincing.<\/p>\n

In his six and a half years at Arsenal, he has built steadily, and three consecutive runners-up positions in the Premier League show remarkable consistency. The foundations are solid, but the finishing touches have been amiss.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta dropped to his knees as his team failed to convert a chance to go level with Manchester City on Sunday, April 19 [Scott Heppell\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Will Arsenal \u2018bottle it\u2019 again?<\/h2>\n

As the Premier League draws to a close, Arsenal face Newcastle, Fulham and Burnley at home, with away games at West Ham and Crystal Palace on the final day (May 24).<\/p>\n

City visit Everton and Bournemouth as well as Burnley. At home, they take on Brentford, Crystal Palace (date to be arranged) and Aston Villa in their final game.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s run-in looks slightly favourable, with all five games against teams in the bottom half of the table. But Bournemouth, who beat the Gunners in London on April 11, have exposed the league leaders to the perils of expecting three points at lower-ranked clubs.<\/p>\n

Second place would be a nightmare for Arteta, his players, and the fans. Arsenal have become the prime target for fans of other clubs, and the slight they face most is that they are \u201cbottlers\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an accusation that brings indignation from Arsenal supporters, who feel the club deserves more respect for their achievements, including being the last remaining Premier League club in the UEFA Champions League for the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

A vocal element of the fanbase have developed a huge following on social media platforms, but this content puts a brighter spotlight on the club. The post-match rants of the fans often get more attention than the football itself.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s football has attracted criticism for a lack of flair. The team\u2019s success is built on a high-quality defence and set-piece goals.<\/p>\n

There is an irony to the flak they receive. The Arsenal team who won the league title under George Graham in 1989 and 1991, shortly before the introduction of the Premier League, were notorious for their focus on defence. Hence, the famous chant \u201c1-0 to the Arsenal\u201d. That team didn\u2019t need to care about their reputation as they celebrated winning trophies, and the same could apply for the current Arsenal team if they find a late surge.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s last Premier League title in 2004 was an entirely different scenario, as Arsene Wenger\u2019s team went through the season unbeaten and became known as \u201cThe Invincibles\u201d. For much of this season, there was an invincibility about Arteta\u2019s team. It\u2019s been brutally dismantled in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

In the coming weeks, Arsenal can still win the two prestigious trophies they crave.<\/p>\n

For it to happen, they need to lift themselves for a Champions League semifinal over two legs against a gritty Atletico Madrid side.<\/p>\n

If Arsenal end up empty-handed, it will leave Arteta with just an FA Cup and two Community Shields to show for a reign that promised so much.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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In what was billed as the biggest Premier League game in years, Arsenal\u2019s defeat on Sunday against title rivals Manchester City could prove to be a fatal blow to their hopes of ending an agonising 22-year wait for football glory. Arsenal appeared to have one hand on the English Premier League trophy for months, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}