City remains two points behind the league leader but with two games in hand appears to be on course to be crowned champion for the third year in a row.
The Premier League title is now Manchester City’s to lose after a 4-1 rout of Arsenal on Wednesday.
The Premier League title is now Manchester City’s to lose after a 4-1 rout of Arsenal on Wednesday.
Arsenal is still out in front in the standings, but by the time Erling Haaland completed the scoring in stoppage time, the Londoners’ title challenge looked effectively over.
City remains two points behind the league leader but with two games in hand appears to be on course to be crowned champion for the third year in a row.
“It is in our hands,” Guardiola said. “Until today, I preferred Arsenal’s position because if Arsenal beat us it is in their hands. Now it’s our destiny.”
Mikel Arteta’s team has exceeded all expectations by taking the challenge this far, but the pressure appears to have taken its toll in recent weeks.
Two-goal leads were thrown away against Liverpool and West Ham, while it took a late comeback to salvage a point against last-place Southampton last week.
That damaging sequence meant Arsenal needed to win against City to stay in control of the title race.
Mikel Arteta’s team has exceeded all expectations by taking the challenge this far, but the pressure appears to have taken its toll in recent weeks.
“Those players deserve a lot of credit after nine-and-a-half months being here,” the Arsenal manager said. “And there are still five games to play. In 22 years in this country I’ve seen a lot of things and there are not two equal games in this league.
“First we have to lift our players who suffered tonight, playing against an exceptional team. But we are an exceptional team as well.”
City could go top of the standings with a win against Fulham on Sunday.
The biggest test, however, has already been passed after beating Arsenal for the third time this season — including a win in the FA Cup.
While neither Guardiola nor Arteta would accept this match was a title decider, it put City firmly in control and it would take a major drop off for the defending champions to hand the initiative back to Arsenal.
