It is staggering to think Arsenal’s season could hinge on one match.
But when the final whistle blows on Sunday after the Gunners’ contest against Manchester City, the Premier League title may very well be decided then and there.
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As it stands, Arsenal sit six points clear of second-placed City in the Premier League.
However, all the noise surrounding the contest seems to suggest it is City’s title to lose.
A shock 2-1 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday suggested the pressure of a first Premier League crown in 22 years is getting to Mikel Arteta’s men.
The Cherries defeat was Arsenal’s third in their last four games across all competitions, with a Carabao Cup final loss to City followed by a shock FA Cup exit against Championship side Southampton.
That tally could increase to four in their last five should Arteta’s men slip up in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Sporting at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Despite boasting a 1-0 advantage, progression to the semi-finals is far from a forgone conclusion and a loss would mean Arsenal’s hopes for a trophy – their first since 2020 – boils down to the Premier League.
Arsenal’s alarming form has contributed to an all-too-familiar feeling for Gunners fans given the north London outfit has finished second in the Premier League for three consecutive seasons.
But here Arsenal stand, with the chance to rewrite the narrative of being English football’s perennial bridesmaids.
The magnitude of the occasion is why Arsenal broadcaster CJ Needham labelled this week as perhaps the club’s ‘most important’ in 22 years.
Gunners can make themselves ‘heroes’
“This is a week where, if you go on and win the Premier League, you’re looking like heroes,” Needham said on eSPORTY’s Inside Gooners.
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“Do you want to be legends, or not?
“There are many Arsenal fans that are too young to see the ‘Invincibles’. They’ll (current Arsenal squad) be the first ones they remember.
“What annoys me is, we’re so close. We’ve been so close, we’re at the final furlong.
“I don’t doubt the nerves. You can have nerves, you’re human beings. But there’s a lot more to give.
“It’s a shoot-out on Sunday.”
The implications of Sunday’s result are simple.
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If Arsenal win, they will go nine points clear of City with five league fixtures to go.
Of course, the margin could shrink to six if City win their game in hand.
But former Arsenal winger Perry Groves even if his former employers slip up elsewhere on the run home, victory over City will have Arteta’s men feeling ‘invincible’.
Groves: Title race ’80 per cent done’ if Arsenal beat City
“If we won on Sunday, quite rightly, then you’d think there’s such a buffer we’ve given ourselves that you can afford a draw or a loss,” Groves said.
“It will be the mentality shift of going to the Etihad and winning, and what it does to this group of players for the last five games of the season, you’d feel invincible.
“I’m not saying it would be done and dusted, but you would say it’s 80 per cent done.”
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Of course, beating City on their home turf is no easy feat.
In fact, it’s a rather unfamiliar outcome for the Gunners given they have won just three times in their last 21 visits to the Etihad.
As for the last time Arsenal left with three points, that was in January 2015 when goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud secured all three points.
Reminiscing on the result, Needham hailed Cazorla’s performance as ‘unreal’, largely because he ‘stood up to be counted’.
“That’s what I want to see from our boys,” Needham added.
“History isn’t kind, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to want to write a new era. You want to compete against the best.
Arsenal’s record at the Etihad Stadium since August 2006
August 26, 2006: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
February 2, 2008: Manchester City 1-3 Arsenal (Premier League)
November 22, 2008: Manchester City 3-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
September 12, 2009: Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal (Premier League)
December 2, 2009: Manchester City 3-0 Arsenal (League Cup)
October 24, 2010: Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal (Premier League)
December 18, 2011: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
September 23, 2012: Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
December 14, 2013: Manchester City 6-3 Arsenal (Premier League)
January 18, 2015: Manchester City 0-2 Arsenal (Premier League)
May 8, 2016: Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal (Premier League)
December 18, 2016: Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
November 5, 2017: Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
February 3, 2019: Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
June 17, 2020: Manchester City 3-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
October 17, 2020: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
August 28, 2021: Manchester City 5-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
January 27, 2023: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal (FA Cup)
April 26, 2023: Manchester City 4-1 Arsenal (Premier League)
March 31, 2024: Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal (Premier League)
September 22, 2024: Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal (Premier League)
“As poor as City are in comparison to what they used to be, they could get a domestic treble. Go and spoil their day. You owe them a defeat, you owe them a deficit of defeats.
“Just be free of the mind, go for it. That’s what our fans are wanting, just give us something.”
‘The whole world stops’ on Sunday
Although Arsenal’s millions of supporters across the globe will be hoping Arteta’s side can snap their decade-long drought at the Etihad, Groves believes many more will be hoping to see the Gunners fall flat on their face.
But it is these types of occasions, with seismic implications resting on every possible outcome for Sunday’s clash, that Arsenal have wanted to be part of for so long.
“The whole world stops on Sunday,” Groves said.
“I’m not just talking about this country. We know how big the Premier League is around the world.
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“I would say 80 per cent of neutrals want us to go there and get beat.
“This is where we’ve fought to be. We’re relevant now. When Arteta first came, we were irrelevant, no-one card. We were eighth. He’s turned it around.
“As players, in our lives, there’s very few times when you take a step back and absorb everything and you go, ‘This is quite good.’
“When they go out and walk around before the game, they should look around, ‘This is where I want to be.’ Absorb it all.”
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