People are calling this a semifinal. Whoever wins this wins the Premier League, that is what everyone is saying. And look, if City win then yes, I think they go on and win the league, maybe even a domestic treble. But if Arsenal win? I am not convinced they go on to win it. I just do not see it with this Arsenal side this season. That is not me being an Arsenal hater, that is just how this season has felt.
Because here is the thing about Arsenal. People were saying all summer that they have the best squad in the league. Maybe they do on paper. But have they used it properly? Have they really got the best out of what they have? Saka is out and he might not even make the World Cup at this point, that is how bad it looks. Rice looks cooked. Zubimendi too. Their players look short of confidence, short of belief, short of that edge you need when the big moments arrive. In the last three games they have scored two goals and conceded two. That is not title winning form.
You know in Rocky when Apollo Creed is training Rocky and he keeps shouting Eye of the Tiger? That is what Arsenal are missing right now. Against Bournemouth it looked like they were happy to take a draw. Happy with a point against Bournemouth. And for me that tells you everything about where Arteta has this group mentally.
I will say it because not many people do. I do not think Arteta is good enough to get Arsenal over the line. He is too defensive, too cautious when it matters most, and he gets away with a lot more than other managers would. Remember last season? After Liverpool won the Premier League with games to spare, Arteta came out and said Arsenal deserved to win the league. Liverpool won it with games to spare. Make that make sense. If that was Liam Rosenior saying something like that people would have been all over him. The TikTok stuff on the training pitch, the theatrics on the touchline, he gets a pass for things that other managers simply would not.
On the other side you have Pep. And with Pep it is simple. He wins. That is what he does. He finds a way, always. He might genuinely be the best manager of this decade and what makes him even more dangerous right now is that he has changed his style of play and his players are hungry. Genuinely hungry. You have players in that City squad who have won everything. Silva, Haaland who was part of the treble winning side, Donnarumma who won the Champions League last season with PSG. These are not players who need motivation. They are ready to die on that pitch to win.
And then there is the Bernardo Silva factor. He has said he will be leaving City at the end of this season. A stalwart, a legend of that club, playing his last few games in a City shirt. If the players were not already up for it, and they were, that Silva news is the extra fuel on top. He will give absolutely everything and so will everyone around him.
Cherki as well. In my opinion one of the best players in the Premier League this season. City have real quality all over the pitch and they look like they believe it.
Arsenal will set up to defend, try to nick something from a set piece or a throw, that has been their way in the big games this season. And they might get chances, they probably will, but I have real doubts about whether they will take them when it counts. Arteta might even be happy to come away with a point if it came to it.
City though. City will go for the win. Every single player raring to go, confident, hungry, with a point to prove. Pep always excels in the final stretch of the Premier League season, go and look it up, the record speaks for itself.
City win this one.