With Manchester City moving two points clear of Arsenal and Liverpool, can the champions now be considered favourites to lift the Premier League Trophy again with just six matches to go?
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
35 | +57 | 80 |
| 2 |
Man City
MCI
|
34 | +50 | 79 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
35 | +41 | 75 |
As the dust settles after another HUGE weekend of Premier League action, see how pundits feel about the latest twists in the title race and what they think will happen next.
'City never drop points when it matters'
Ian Wright, who won the 1997/98 title with Arsenal, says: “Arsenal and Liverpool knew that they had to win their remaining matches because of how Man City are. But Man City can now relax and the pressure valve is turned down.
"Can anyone really see them [Man City] losing two matches? You can make a case for it, but they never drop points when it matters in the closing weeks of a title race. That will demoralise fans of Arsenal and Liverpool.
“Liverpool have three away games coming up, but they’re going to have to win all of those. Arsenal will need to win all theirs too. Man City now know that even if they slip up, they can retrieve the situation and they have a cushion.”
'Man City will drop points'
Owen Hargreaves, who won the 2007/08 title with Manchester United and went on to play for Man City, is expecting further twists.
"I don’t think it’s over," he says. "City will probably win it, but I do think they will drop points. They have the Champions League as a distraction. If they do drop points, Arsenal and Liverpool need to be ready to take advantage.”
Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson believes that Sunday's defeat to Villa has all but ended the Gunners' chances of a first league title in 20 years.
"For me, it's gone - 100 per cent," he told Sky Sports.
"It's completely turned on its head now. Man City put pressure on them by playing first and they couldn't handle it. But take nothing away from Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, they were absolutely outstanding."
Despite their losses yesterday, both Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp have their sights firmly set on getting back to the top spot 💬 pic.twitter.com/93AZlz11EF
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 15, 2024
Michael Owen, a Premier League champion with Man Utd in 2010/11, says: "City are now at the top and they now have the easiest run of games left.
"I can’t see them dropping any points in any of their next four matches. The match away at Spurs is the one that stands out as their hardest one remaining.”
Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, eight-time champion Gary Neville said: "It feels a little inevitable that the Manchester City, Pep Guardiola machine rises to the top with a few games left. They are going to be very, very difficult to stop - that's an understatement.
"I think Arsenal have looked really smooth in the last couple of months and City have started to look really smooth as they always do.
"Whereas with Liverpool, you felt they were always the scruffy one of the three, yet they were hanging in there, calling upon the emotion of the Anfield crowd and Jurgen Klopp's last season - calling upon other things, other factors."
'City have the most experience of this scenario'
Premier League and BBC pundit Alan Shearer added, "Sunday's results show what this pressure can do to you, and it is why I have stuck with Manchester City in the past few weeks whenever I've been asked who I think will win the Premier League. I am not going to change my mind now.
"Out of the three teams at the top City have the most experience of this scenario and they not only know what to expect, they also know how to deal with it when it happens.
"This was City's weekend, but the top of the table is still extremely tight and I still think there are more twists to come in the title race."