Manchester City’s chances of a Premier League title victory barely improve after Liverpool win as Arsenal fixture schedule favours Mikel Arteta success
Mikel Arteta has been given some much-needed perspective after his Arsenal side watched Manchester City earn shock win at Anfield(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
You’d have thought that Manchester City’s win over Liverpool at Anfield would have propelled their title hopes into a new realm. Especially if you were subjected to the whaling from Gary Neville, almost pining for the Premier League title race to be kept alive.
The persistent “three-point gap” shouts that, for the moment, remains six until Manchester City host Fulham and the Gunners go to Brentford, which is enough for anyone from an Arsenal persuasion to reach for the volume-down button on their remote control.
The reality was, of course, that the gap between Arsenal and Manchester City remained exactly as it was before a ball was kicked. Granted, it could have extended to nine were it not for just a second City win at Anfield in the league since 2003, but as Mikel Arteta would say, he just needs to focus on his team as they fight to end a 22-year wait for the title.
Interestingly, according to the Opta supercomputer after Arsenal’s win over Sunderland but before the game at Anfield had kicked off, the Gunners were given a 93.64% chance of a title win, while City were as low as 4.55%. You’d think, therefore, after the shock victory over Arne Slot’s side, those numbers would have shifted considerably, right?
Wrong, in the wake of City’s unlikely win, City’s chances had gone up to just 8.15%, an increase of just 3.6 %. Whereas Arsenal’s hopes dipped to a value of 90.14%. The supercomputer takes into account plenty of metrics when coming to these valuations including the Gunners’ results so far and the points per game values of each side’s remaining opponents.
Arsenal travel to Brentford on Thursday as the first of three away games in a row in the league. Next week’s visit to Wolves is one of just three more trips outside of London in the Premier League despite it being only February.
Arsenal have played eight of the top ten sides away from home already with only the Bees and Manchester City yet to play. They’ve played the teams sitting currently in third (Aston Villa) fourth (Manchester United) sixth (Liverpool) and ninth (Sunderland) home and away and need not face any of them at all.
Man City on the other hand still have to play Chelsea (A) Everton (A) Brentford (H) Bournemouth (A) Aston Villa (H) and of course host Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. This is likely the biggest indicator so far as to why City’s title hopes barely changed after their Anfield win.
Welcome to ‘Seeing Red’ – our new Arsenal podcast
We’ve launched a new Arsenal podcast ‘Seeing Red’ with chief football writer John Cross and Arsenal reporter Tom Canton.
Each week, they will dive deep into the biggest topics as they follow Mikel Arteta’s side every step of the way – and will also discuss nostalgic flashbacks before each fixture.
It’s a great time to be an Arsenal fan, with the Gunners flying high under Arteta as they look to win silverware this season.
The North Londoners are going strong in the Premier League and Champions League – and they’re also in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
We’ll provide insight and reaction – and have fun along the way – as Arsenal target the biggest trophies this season.
No stone will be left unturned. VAR controversy? Poor performances? Unsung hero who deserves praise? Fixture chaos? We’ll have it all covered.
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