JULES BREACH: Why the Premier League title race is far from over – and absolutely thrilling

The best league in the world needs a title race to match, and the Premier League’s top two have served up a thrilling season to date.

Since Arsenal and Manchester City established themselves as the two teams in the showdown, it has been a tense and thoroughly entertaining head-to-head battle for the crown. That’s not taking anything away from Liverpool, who raced clear to claim the title last term without having to deal with as much jeopardy as we’ve seen this time around, but having a title race as good as this has provided even more excitement.

Arsenal have been top since October, and deservedly so as the strongest and most consistent competitor. But Mikel Arteta’s side let City back into the contest, and given the six Premier League titles on Pep Guardiola’s mantelpiece already, a sense of inevitability about City making an incredible charge to snatch it from Arsenal’s hands began to feel very real.

Games that ordinarily wouldn’t jump off the page become massive. The Gunners visited bottom club Wolves in February for what looked like it should have been a routine win. But they threw away a two-goal lead, conceding in stoppage time to leave behind two precious points that had seemed guaranteed. Mistakes don’t happen late in games if the pressure isn’t there, which has added to the unpredictability of any fixture featuring one of the title contenders.

Ten days later, City went ahead at Elland Road, but had to hold on against an energetic Leeds – a team that were playing in the Championship last year and one you would expect Guardiola’s side to beat with relative ease. City claimed maximum points on that occasion, but it was a tight and nervy end to a match that should have been more comfortable.

Every game, every point, every weekend becomes huge. We’ve had what’s felt like many big moments in the season already, potential turning points – Max Dowman’s performance for Arsenal off the bench against Everton could prove to be the biggest of them all. While creating history and becoming the Premier League’s youngest ever scorer at 16 years and 73 days old, he sealed three vital points just minutes before City played out a 1-1 draw at West Ham.

Arsenal have been criticised for an over-reliance on set-pieces and time wasting, but regardless of how they go about doing it, if Arteta finds a way to deliver the club’s first title in 22 years, nobody will care how it’s been done. There’s also a lot more
to this Arsenal team than just that – the gradual evolution under Arteta has got them to this stage, where they’re in the driving seat with just a few games to go.

But the fact that Arsenal have gained fewer points than City in the last couple of months of every season since 2021-22, coupled with Pep’s experience of success in these scenarios, still means the nerves are creeping in for Gunners supporters and giving City fans hope. Pep’s looser, more humorous personality in press conferences and post-match interviews has only added to the entertainment value.

As we head into the final stretch, there’s a desperation from fans for their rivals to drop points somewhere along the way, and it gives every round a different edge. Supporters of other clubs will have their preference on who they want to lift the trophy in May too, making it a spectacle that everyone can sit back and enjoy – albeit some more than others.