Arsenal On The Ropes As Man City Aim For Knockout Blow In Premier League Title Race

Mikel Arteta's men travel to the Etihad five points clear at the top of the table, yet many see the title as City's to lose thanks to two games in hand and home advantage in midweek.

Arsenal's trip to Manchester City on Wednesday has been circled for months as a potentially decisive date in the Premier League title race, but the Gunners must now wrestle back a huge swing in momentum towards the defending champions. Mikel Arteta's men travel to the Etihad five points clear at the top of the table, yet many see the title as City's to lose thanks to two games in hand and home advantage in midweek. Arsenal could have amassed an 11-point advantage in recent weeks to pile the pressure on City, as they try to balance their effort in a bid to win a treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Instead, Arteta's young guns have showed their inexperience of dealing with a title race in the run-in as three consecutive draws have gifted City back control of their own destiny.

Twice Arsenal blew 2-0 leads to draw at Liverpool and West Ham. On Friday, it was the league leaders' turn to produce a late fightback from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 against Southampton.

But the silence that greeted the final whistle at the Emirates, accompanied by Arteta's head in his hands and Arsenal bodies strewn across the turf illustrated that even salvaging a point felt like defeat against a side sitting bottom of the table.

The consistent problem across all three games has been Arsenal's inability to defend.