After drawing 3-3 with Southampton on Friday night, Arsenal's hopes of being crowned the 2022/23 Premier League champions have taken a serious hit
Technically, the Premier League title race is still in Arsenal hands, but only just following a 3-3 draw against Southampton on Friday night.
In recent weeks the Gunners have been on the wrong side of two-goal leads being overturned, but despite salvaging a point after trailing 3-1 going into the 90th minute, the reaction from the likes of Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus told its own story when the final whistle blew.
The reality is that Arsenal missed a great opportunity to take advantage of Manchester City not being in Premier League action this weekend by opening up a seven-point lead at the top of the table and thus placing a degree of pressure on Pep Guardiola's side when the two teams meet at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
However, the results since the win over Leeds United after the international break have taken a turn for the worst even if Arsenal haven't actually lost a single game. But those 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham United when leading 2-0 and the six-goal thriller at home to Southampton may prove costly come May 28.
94 points is a total Guardiola's side can reach were they to win every single one of their remaining eight fixtures and the fact they welcome the Gunners to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday means this scenario will see them lift the Premier League trophy for the third season in a row.
With that said, whilst it's in City's hands, it's just about in Arsenal's too. With six games remaining for the current league leaders, their maximum points total is 93 but to reach that they have to beat Man City and remain perfect all the way up to the final day of the season against Wolves.
Of course, the game at Etihad is by no means a title decider as the north London outfit are guaranteed to end the night on top of the table, altough the dynamics will change if Arteta manages to oversee a Gunners victory over City in the Premier League for the first time since December 2015.
Defeat for City means they can only reach 91 points while a draw means they can reach 92 points. As a result, if Arsenal manage to avoid defeat in Manchester then the new target to be crowned Premier League champions becomes 92 or 93 points depending on the outcome between the top two.
26/04 - Manchester City (A)
02/05 - Chelsea (H)
07/05 - Newcastle United (A)
14/05 - Brighton (H)
20/05 - Nottingham Forest (A)
28/05 - Wolves (H)
