Man City v Arsenal LIVE: Arteta identifies missing piece as collapsing Gunners lose control of Premier League title race

Mikel Arteta fell to his knees. In a title race of the finest margins, Kai Havertz’s header in stoppage time was the golden chance Arsenal had to take to keep the title race in their hands. Instead, Havertz headed over the top of the bar to leave Arsenal knowing they could be knocked off top spot for the first time since October on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t the only chance Arsenal had in the second half. In fact, they had two brilliant opportunities when the match was level at 1-1 – which, given how an Arsenal victory could have knocked City out of it, may have been even more critical to the outcome of the title.

In the 62nd minute, a counter-attack saw Martin Odegaard slipping Havertz through on goal with just Gianluigi Donnarumma to beat. But the goalkeeper stood tall and made a redemptive save, given his earlier error. Arsenal had a four-on-two but could not capitalise.

A couple of minutes later, Eberechi Eze hit the inside of the post with a curling shot from the edge of the box, the rebound off the woodwork skirting across the face of goal. That was how close Arsenal came to taking charge of the title race and getting their hands on a first league trophy in 22 years.

Packed with snippets of behind-the-scenes gossip and updates from Miguel Delaney’s reporting trips, members have a backstage pass as he covers the 2025/2026 season, the 2026 World Cup and more…

Arsenal-themed water bottles were on sale outside the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City fans ramped up the banter ahead of Sunday’s crucial title clash.

City were hoping to move within three points of the Gunners at the top of the table – with a game in hand – with victory over Mikel Arteta’s side.

Supporters quipped Arsenal were “bottling it” after losing to Bournemouth last weekend.

“I think Arsenal had a good performance but the difference between good teams and great teams, you can see that on the field. Those top players make the difference,” said Patrick Vieira on Sky.

“Arsenal will feel more of the pressure now. I would question the mental strength of the team even more now,” he added.

Here’s some praise for Silva from Gary Neville on Sky:

Here’s the entertaining interview with Silva and Haaland after the final whistle on Sky:

This title race is not over yet, I still feel like there are some more twists and turns to come,” says former Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney on BBC’s Match of the Day.

“It is is obviously going to be tight but City have got one more game to try to win, so I still have Arsenal down as slight favourites.

“I’ve been in this situation myself, where you need to win all your games for the title. You look at your games and you think well we should win this one, or that one, but it never pans out that way.

“From now until the end of the season it is just going to be down to which team keeps their composure the best – that’s who will win it,” he added.

Here are the scenes at full-time as City secured a potentially pivotal three points:

Here are the highlights of the two City goals then.

A spectacular run and finish from Rayan Cherki to get the hosts started…

And an equally accomplished finish from Haaland to secure the three points!

Here’s what Haaland has to say to Match of the Day:

“Look at the battles, look at the energy we used, look at the atmosphere. It was amazing. Everyone knows how much I enjoyed that. A good win.

“You need to stay focused, know what you want to do. We have a plan, you need to execute and do what you can do to win the game.”

“I expected us to have a lot of the ball, I expected them to press us high, they are really good at this.”

On what the City dressing room was like before the game, he explains: “We played them a few weeks ago so we knew a bit about what you’re going into it. It’s at our home and we kind of knew what was going to happen.

“Everyone knew if we lost this game or didn’t win this game it kind of would be over so we are still in the race. The locker room before was calm because we knew what we had to do because of the Carabao Cup final and the Chelsea game. We still need to keep building and take it step by step because it’s another game on Wednesday,” he added.