Even though Man City went to the top of the Premier League on Wednesday, will their 1-0 win over Burnley turn out to be a missed opportunity for the league leaders?
Pep Guardiola’s mannerisms on the Turf Moor touchline suggested that may have been how he was thinking.
His job is to try to take advantage of Arsenal’s loss of confidence and go for our throat.
The Spaniard will be aware that he has made it easier for Mikel Arteta to motivate his squad and rebuild their self-belief.
Goal Difference Could Still Matter
Our manager would have assumed our rivals would have won by a bigger margin in midweek, especially after taking only five minutes to break the deadlock.
That would have meant the Gunners not only targeting victories in their final five league fixtures to become champions, but also carrying the extra concern of chasing down an unreachable goal difference.
Yet with Haaland scoring the only goal in Lancashire, our boss can now argue with a straight face to his dressing room that victories in their remaining games would give them an excellent chance of getting over the line.
That is because the first and second in England’s top division currently have identical points and goal difference.
What separates them at present is that the Sky Blues have scored three more goals.
Arsenal Must Focus on Winning First
Football is not played on paper, but it would appear that City have the harder run-in.
You would not expect them to win at Everton and Bournemouth by large margins.
Out of the top two, Arsenal against Burnley would be the most likely fixture to produce plenty of goals if there was one.
If we could return to our defensive best, clean sheets would be another way to take the lead in the goal difference column.
With one win in six, though, it would be arrogant to think about anything other than how we put a winning sequence together.
More specifically, how to perform under pressure and deal with anxiety.
We might not have the mental strength to do that, so not having to worry about goal difference can only help.
That is why Wednesday might turn out to be more important than some think.
Yes. But Man City know that they are currently more consistent than Arsenal and don’t have UCL to worry about, so they could expect Arsenal to lose a couple of games
doesn’t change it was a chance to improve the GD
If we can win our remaining fixtures, we still have a chance, but that’s a big IF…
They did what they needed to do by winning the game and we should be doing the same thing in our next game. Priority is winning and playing balance football. Otherwise we might end up like Liverpool few years back when they drew a match against Palace (I think) because they were chasing the goal difference and that draw knock them out of contention. Win first, play balance football with high intensity that allows us to get more goals, and don’t be open in the back.
no they didn’t , that was the game for them to score goals
it means Arsenal can just worry about beating Newcastle without worrying about GD
Spot on Dan – if we win, it will mean three points and a automatic better goal difference – city slipped up against Burnley and we need to take advantage.
I can see either a big win, say 4-0 or a very very tight game, say 1-0, but our crowd need to be the 12th man from start to finish.
This is just coping you are doing. Before it was we are 9 points ahead, so nothing to worry about, then same excuse when we were 6 and 3 points a head. Them not thrashing Burney doesn’t make them less favourite as there is no guarantee that we are going to beat Burnley by more than 1 goal. We might score more goals against Newcastle and struggle to score against Burnley. Same case for them. They might have struggled against Burnley but we are also hurting for goals. They won, which was the priority numero uno. We just need to go out there and win the remaining games. If we play good balance football we might be able to get the goal difference advantage. We need to focus on what we are doing and less attention to what Mancity is doing. This situation is of our own doing.
I’m the last to ever of said that lol
my biggest critics will tell you I was asking for us to be humble and was fearful of City
yet now we are here …what do you want me to say lol ?
both can be true mate – there doesn’t have to be overreaction either way
Perhaps the situation might be city115 doing Ibrahim?
Ever thought about that?
who gave City the opportunity to get back in the title race? If we had handled our business and won the games that we were supposed to win, we wouldn’t be in this situation. They were floundering in Dec and Jan, but we keep on giving them opportunities when we could have finished them off. I hope we win but lets not changed the reality.
Same could be said about City. If they had won the games they should they would be clear. Thing is, football doesn’t work like that. There are always upsets.
I only care about us and not what City could have done. Who is more happier between Arsenal fans and City fan at the moment regarding the current situation? We have been on a downward spiral and it was bound to happened as we always do towards the 2nd half of the season and that is why we needed to increase our lead in Dec and Jan. Liverpool did the same thing last year and were slow walking at the end to the finish line because they built enough cushion. This is on us and nothing more.
I would say Arsenal as we are also in last 4 of CL ?
if you said in summer title race will be In your own hands and last 4 of CL.league you take it
I am not referring to CL. Yes, I would take it if that was the offer in the summer but we have been here before where the title is in hand but we find a way to fumble it. Hope we win but the narrative shouldn’t change when we don’t.
not what you asked
you asked which fan would be happier ?
So I would say both have 5 games left with destiny in own hands. On paper we have easier run in .
Throw in we are in the last 4 of CL Arsenal fans would be happier
Disagree. I am not talking about the Burnley game but how the season is coming to an end. Mancity fans got what they wanted by catching us. We didn’t increase the gap when we had the chance and losing the lead. Its better than not behind in points and goals but I am bitter about this whole situation and how we got here. Plus, based on our game plan, I have no confidence we can beat them to title on goal difference. That’s why I prefer that we win all our games and hope it doesn’t come to the goal difference
I don’t know which Arsenal fans would be happier that City are level on points with us, perhaps we’ll have a better idea after the Newcastle game. Ibrahim you are hitting your head against three brick walls but all our end goals are to finally see Arsenal win the EPL title.
I’ve read reports on City trying to manipulate the rearrangement of their 2 matches vs Bournemouth and Palace. They’re good in cunning and may succeed if those 2 matches fall on dates most suitable for their run in.
Ambachew,
What are you talking about. In City’s position Arsenal would do exactly the same thing, and rightly so to.
On this occasion, I won’t be having a go at City for doing what any fan of theirs’s would expect.
Ambachew. The game with Bournemouth is scheduled to be played on 17th May, one day following their cup final with Chelsea, so you can hardly blame them for trying to get that rescheduled, and no “cunning” required. The Palace game is two days before the Villa game on the 24th May, and I doubt that they’ll have any luck with getting that changed.
Guehi to city130 in January and now to likely need GD against CP. ouch.
BB, good piece of Pep’s forward thinking.