How many points Man City need to be crowned Premier…

How many points Man City need to be crowned Premier League champions after Arsenal response

Manchester City have played one of their two games in hand over Arsenal in the Premier League title race and as expected, it's translated into points on the board.

By no means were Pep Guardiola's side at their very best against West Ham United but they still managed to record a 3-0 victory thanks to second half goals from Nathan Ake, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden. As a result, the defending champions reclaimed top spot from the Gunners following their 3-1 win over Chelsea 24 hours prior.

Both clubs are back in action at the weekend and, on paper, it would appear that Arsenal have the tougher assignment facing a Newcastle United side that has only tasted defeat once at St James' Park all season, whilst City host relegation-threatened Leeds United to the Etihad Stadium.

With each fixture that passes with a Man City win, it makes the Gunners' task of being crowned Premier League champions for the first time since the 2003/04 Invincibles season all the more difficult as they are relying on other teams to take points off their title rivals.

However, the north London outfit only have themselves to blame for being in this position as they were in control of the title race as recently as the beginning of last month when they had an eight-point lead over City at the top of the table, albeit having played a game more.

So following the March international break, Arsenal's target to be crowned champions became clear as 25 points in addition to a significant swing in the goal difference column would ensure English football's biggest prize returned to the red half of north London for the first time in almost two decades.

In a dream scenario, that worked out to be eight wins and a draw from the final 10 Premier League fixtures. Fast forward a month and whilst Mikel Arteta's side have not only won just two of their last six games but they've also lost control of the title race and have become the chasers.

In between home wins over Leeds United and Chelsea are back-to-back 2-2 draws away at Liverpool and West Ham, a 3-3 draw against bottom-of-the-table Southampton at the Emirates Stadium and a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Man City in a pivotal game in the title race.

But being 2-0 up at Anfield and at the London Stadium only to take two points from a possible six could prove costly as is a lack of clean sheets because the Gunners now trail Man City by 15 on goal difference which could be a deciding factor at the end of the season if both teams end up finishing on 90 points.

With that said, it's worth noting that Arsenal's maximum points total is 90 whilst Guardiola's side can reach 94 were they to win every single one of their remaining five fixtures and this cushion in addition to their superior goal difference means they can afford to drop four points and still be crowned champions.

Simply put City require 11 more points to win a third straight Premier League trophy and that works out to be four more wins or three wins and two draws. All Arteta's side can do at this point is win their remaining games and hope the upcoming Champions League ties have an impact on the title race.