Manchester City in Premier League driver's seat after dismantling Arsenal
Arsenal's lead atop the Premier League is down to just two points after Manchester City rolled to a resounding 4-1 win Wednesday at home, putting England's defending champions in position to retain their crown.
Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring for City just six minutes after kickoff at the Etihad Stadium. John Stones doubled the hosts advantage late in the first half, and De Bruyne added a third for Pep Guardiola's side shortly after the break for the hosts, whose only blemish was the late, effectively irrelevant consolation goal they conceded to Arsenal's Rob Holding.
Erling Haaland — who else? — sealed the most important win of the season so far with the final tally deep into second half stoppage time. His goal also gave him the record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season with 33.
Here are three quick takeaways from a match that could well end up determining the title race.
Manchester City the clear title favorite now
What seemed almost inevitable for months appears to be happening. With two games in hand on the still (for now) first place Gunners, Manchester City fully controls its own destiny after Wednesday's win.
Arsenal has been the surprise Premier League leader for most of the 2022-23 campaign. But there has been a sense since at least February that the Cityzens, the English titlist in four of the last five seasons, would eventually leverage its pedigree and experience and overtake Mikel Arteta's team down the final stretch.
Indeed, the six-point swing Wednesday's contest represents means that should City win each of its final six Prem games, it would comfortably stroll to its third consecutive league crown, with 94 points. That's four more than Arsenal can manage even with a perfect record the rest of the way.
Slumping Arsenal totally outclassed
The Gunners didn't look anything like champions on Wednesday and don't deserve to be based on current form. As good as Arsenal has been over the last eight months, Arteta's squad was thoroughly outclassed by a better, deeper, more battle-tested opponent.
De Bruyne could've been awarded a penalty even before the opener. Had Erling Haaland's scoring boots not inexplicably abandoned him for the first 90 minutes, it easily could've ended 6-0. The Norwegian striker, still on pace to shatter the Prem's three-decade-old single season goals record in the weeks to come, was stopped by Aaron Ramsdale three times in the first half alone. He also sent a blistering shot just wide of the visiting keeper's net.
Arsenal, meanwhile, was utterly toothless in the attack, mustering just one on-target effort from Thomas Partey in the first half before Holding pulled one back against the run of play. From start to finish, the Londoners were never in this one at all.
That shouldn't have been a surprise. Arsenal has been dropping points for weeks, with last Friday's last-gasp 3-3 tie with last place Southampton the undisputed low point. This simply isn't a team in good from right now, and it showed.
No matter. Even if the Gunners lose all of their remaining matches, this will still be a wildly successful season for the club. With Arsenal still trailing by three goals Wednesday in Manchester, Nottingham Forest 3-1 lead over Brighton went final. That result guarantees the Gunners a top four finish for the first time in six years, ensuring the club's return to the UEFA Champions League next season.
And England's title race isn't officially over yet. The fact is that City can still slip up and hand Arsenal its first title since 2004 — unlikely as that may seem in the moment.
Best Sky Blues side ever?
With six Premier League crowns over the last 11 years, Manchester City has been the preeminent club in England for more than a decade now. This is shaping up to be its best season yet.
Wednesday's result came just days after Sky Blues booked a trip to the FA Cup final, in which they'll meet crosstown rival Manchester United in early June. They're back in the Champions League semifinals and are the bookies' significant favorite not just to knock out record 14-time European champ and current trophy holder Real Madrid, but to go on to hoist the hardware for the first time in club history. The treble is well within their reach.
Much of that has to do with Haaland, who has emerged as an almost unstoppable force in his first season under Guardiola. But he's not the only reason. Like its decorated predecessors, the current version of City is no one-man show. This is a team from top to bottom, possibly the best one on the planet, and a squad now poised to claim the highest honor in world's best domestic league yet again.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
