City Watch: Blues pile pressure on leaders Arsenal

As we enter what some call the ‘business end’ of the season, I have to wonder how Manchester City are still in with a shot of the Premier League.

 I cast my mind back to the thrilling title races we’ve had with Liverpool over the last few years, where every point dropped seemed like the end of the world. 

Draws felt like losses and losses felt like our season had crumbled.

City have seemingly thrown their opportunity away on multiple occasions this campaign, especially after the draws to relegation fighting West Ham and Nottingham Forest. 

Going into the weekend, we sat nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand and a fixture against them next week, meaning if those went our way, we’d still be three points off the top.

As it turned out, last weekend may just have been the game that lit the touchpaper to an incredible end to the season. 

The Gunners faced Bournemouth at home at 12:30 on Saturday before our game against Chelsea on Sunday, and as the old saying goes, never back the early kick off. 

Arsenal threw three points down the drain, losing 2-1 to the Cherries leaving us nine points behind still, but with two games in hand.

With the League Cup already won and an FA Cup Semi-Final on the way, this felt like an opportunity to spark the title race into life. 

Despite their inconsistent form, though, Chelsea weren’t to be underestimated. 

The first half was very even, both teams exchanging a few chances here and there, but nothing clear cut, leaving the second period in the balance. 

What followed was a sensational second half performance, with a few names shining bright again.

The Blues wasted no time getting on the score sheet, just six minutes into the second half, Nico O’Reilly found himself free in the box with Haaland being marked by two Chelsea defenders. 

Rayan Cherki, who is proving to be the entertainer, found him with a brilliant cross to make it 1-0.

Ilkay Gundogan used to be the player who would clutch us in big games when it came to April and May in title races, and with the German now long gone, it seems Nico has taken that responsibility. 

He’s been immense these past few games, if he wasn’t already this season!

Cherki then found himself space outside the box following a corner, and found a narrow gap to thread the ball through to Marc Guehi who scored to make it 2-0. 

The pass from the Frenchman was exquisite, and almost reminded me of our old friend, Kevin De Bruyne.

After two goals in quick succession, it was all City for the remainder of the second half, and Doku pounced after some poor passes at the back from Chelsea, making it 3-0 and securing the win, helping us with the goal difference to Arsenal along the way. 

Pep was quoted in an interview that the reason why City find their form in April is because of the sun… same old Pep, never change! 

I’m sure he was being sarcastic, but it wouldn’t surprise me at this point.

He and his players now find themselves six points behind the Gunners with a game in hand, but more crucially, a game against them this weekend. 

I remember going to Man City v Liverpool back in the 2018/19 season, where we were in a similar position. 

Lose and the title’s over, win and it blows it wide open.

That was one of the best 90 minutes of football I’ve ever witnessed, two of the best teams in the world, gloves off, with nothing but winning on their minds. 

The atmosphere that night at the Etihad was electric, in fact, the only time I’ve seen it better was against Real Madrid in the Treble season when we beat them 4-0.

I left Stamford Bridge wanting the game to come as quickly as possible. 

It’s simple, Sunday is a title decider, winner will most likely take all I think, and no one is better in those positions than City. 

You couldn’t have picked a worse weekend for Arsenal to drop points and us to gain, but once again, it’s looking like we might take our opportunity in a title race.

Rodri said a few years ago after we won our fourth title on the spin that it’s all about the mentality, Arsenal came to the Etihad with a draw on their mind, and ultimately the players knew after that they could win it, and did.

I’m hoping we have an end to end game, but who knows, and long as we come out of it with a win!