Man City still owns Arsenal — and the Premier League

The champions now have 11 straight league wins against Arsenal

Manchester City struck a major blow in the title race on Wednesday, defeating Arsenal 3-1 in a top-of-the-table clash at the Emirates Stadium.

Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring before Bukayo Saka equalized from the spot before halftime. But second-half goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland settled the match.

With the win, City has overtaken Arsenal atop the Premier League table, though the Gunners do still have a game in hand.

That won’t be much solace for Mikel Arteta’s men, however, who have now picked up just one point in their last three Premier League games.

If Arsenal is going to win the Premier League for the first time in 20 years it clearly will have to go through City, the back-to-back champions and winners of four of the last five league titles.

Going through City seems an especially daunting challenge for Arteta’s side, however, because the Gunners simply can’t seem to beat Pep Guardiola’s men in the Premier League.

“Psychologically there is a marathon still out there,” Arteta said after the game. “So psychologically [the title] is very far. I said it three months ago and I said it today, it’s about tomorrow. The most important thing is how we are tomorrow and focus on that because the rest of the things, we don’t know what is going to happen.”

Whether he realized it or not, Arteta’s mention of psychological issues was fitting. Even Man City seems to realize they are inside of the Gunners’ heads.

“It was a massive win for us,” City defender Manuel Akanji told Football Daily on Thursday. “Yeah, it also does something probably in the head of the Arsenal players. But in the end we can only focus on ourselves. That’s what we did yesterday, we showed a good performance. It wasn’t an easy game, but I’m really happy we got out with the win.”

There is a long road ahead still and Arsenal does have a slight advantage due to its game in hand. But it is clear the momentum in this title race is fully with the champions.

Arteta’s biggest task now won’t be related to tactics or lineup decisions. It will be convincing his players that they still have what it takes to actually overcome City.

“I have more belief [to win the league than before the game] because I see a team going head-to-head with them,” Arteta told Amazon Prime after the game. “You have to go to the next one and in three days we have another game. I have more belief in my players.”

Watch Grealish’s winner at Arsenal

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