City & ARS locked in title battle - is the Gunners' grip beginning to slip?

Like a phoenix from the ashes, Manchester City rise again. This is the exact tete-a-tete Mikel Arteta and Arsenal were hoping to avoid. We've been here twice before and twice Arteta has been scorned.

Successive victories for Man City have altered the complexion and momentum of the Premier League title race. What was a provisional nine-point gap to Arsenal on Saturday evening has suddenly dwindled to four. This week's results feel like a turning point; City are closing in.

More than the obvious value of back-to-back wins, though, was how those wins were earned. After investing "so much emotionally and physically", as Pep Guardiola put it, to come from behind at Anfield on Sunday, City made victory over Fulham look like a stroll in the park.

To thrill as they did in the first half, scoring three times in 15 minutes, signifies the confidence of a team who know they are edging closer to the summit. "I say 'guys, we have to do it again', and they did it," summarised Guardiola, as if there were no real jeopardy at all. The rhythm of this Manchester City machine is surely now Arsenal's greatest enemy.

Guardiola is daring to go toe to toe with the best team in the Premier League, which of course has so often been his own. But now the Gunners supposedly have the most complete squad with the greatest depth - attributes comparable to champions. The best squad in the division should win the title, shouldn't they?

Except of course this is not a game of should haves. Arsenal should have won the title in 2023/24 and didn't. They led from the front for the vast majority of 2022/23 too. And so here we are again, strapped in for another fascinating instalment of a repetitive saga: 'Can Arsenal actually get over the line this time?'

Meanwhile, Guardiola is poised to take advantage. He is not without problems of his own, that point is important. Erling Haaland has only scored once from open play in eight games and is clearly suffering from fatigue, withdrawn at half-time against Fulham, albeit with the game already won.

The over-reliance on Haaland has meant he has racked up more playing time than any team-mate (2,148 minutes in the league) - which accounts for his drop-off in effectiveness. And yet he scored the winner from the penalty spot at Liverpool and a sharp third to dispatch Fulham three days later. Chances are he will be given the upcoming FA Cup weekend off to rest.

Bernardo Silva and Nico O'Reilly are the other two who would benefit from a break. Both are instrumental to City's structure, whereby Rodri no longer plays the lone role from deep but is aided by the industry of Silva and O'Reilly to help balance in and out of possession demands. It's a pragmatic move from Pep and an acceptance of one of last season's major flaws, that City were too easy to play through. Especially true in transition.

The maturing of O'Reilly in particular has been key to the success of this new setup, but City still have problems maintaining control in the second halves of games. The drift is stark. City have lost nine second halves of football in the league, just one fewer than Burnley. If the table were measured by second 45s only Arsenal would still be top and City would sit sixth.

Such is City's strong start to games, though, it hasn't much mattered - yet. Thirty first-half goals have been scored in the league, at least nine more than any other side, while demonstrating equally impressive strength from open play even when Haaland is not contributing. City have scored a league-high 42 times from active play compared to Arsenal's 27.

In a season of such subjectivities that fact feels important. The diversity of goal threat is one of City's best weapons as long as it remains reliable and not solely attributed to Haaland. The arrival of Antoine Semenyo, scorer of five goals already, has and will continue to lighten the load on the Norwegian.

The compelling additions of Semenyo and Marc Guehi in January have already had a stabilising impact. That is how you instigate the change needed to properly ignite a season. It shows intent and ambition. They are marquee signings and have the potential to push City in line with the kind of depth Arsenal have lauded over the league since the summer.

Between now and the end of May the need to be perfect is immense. Anxiety over how that is achieved has cost Arsenal in games where City have played first and put points on the board, such as was the case this week. The Gunners have bowed to scoreboard pressure more than once since the turn of the year, dropping nine points in total.

It's not bottle or nerve they are lacking, it's efficiency when it matters. Gabriel Martinelli's miss in stoppage time at Brentford is exactly the kind of chance a championship-winning team scores. Those moments become the marginal difference in the end.

Guardiola's side face just one top-half team (Newcastle) in their next five league outings, while Arsenal must negotiate the north London derby and a meeting with Chelsea in between trips to Wolves and Brighton - before the top two clash at the Etihad in April. This is where momentum takes on a whole new meaning.

And for the first time this season, it seems like City's pull is greater.