The two major problems facing Arsenal after Man City take control of title race

Manchester City stood up in the way champions tend to, to set up a sprint to the finish . The great question is again how a deflated Arsenal are going to respond, but the great concern is that they are now in a shoot-out with a team who simply score more. On Wednesday, City can go top by beating doomed Burnley.

That higher quality in attack ultimately told and the game distilled multiple recent trends. While Arsenal’s one goal came from reactive opportunism, City’s two were from attacking incision. There was Rayan Cherki’s brilliance.

There was Gianluigi Donnarumma ’s perceptive throw, redeeming himself for the earlier error for Kai Havertz’s goal. There was then Erling Haaland , finally scoring again at the most important time. Arsenal didn’t have that kind of forward.

They instead had Havertz, who can be a fine player in so many ways but who, here, might have been responsible for the defining moment of the title race. Sadly for Arsenal, it was an injury-time header over the bar. That was the chance.