Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City will be a painful one for the Gunners to cope with having led the way this season for so long. The draws against West Ham and Southampton left the Gunners without momentum for the second time going into the title clash.
Rewind to the last time Arsenal lost a league game, the 3-1 defeat to Man City at the Emirates Stadium, and again the Gunners had dropped points in the previous two fixtures. However, there was a clear sense of superiority City had this time around that wasn’t necessarily present in north London.
It would be fair to say that the same can be said of last season. A 5-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium at the start of the campaign was contrasted by the gutting 2-1 loss in north London in a game Arsenal truly deserved more out of and took the lead through Bukayo Saka.
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It begs the question of what the biggest difference is between playing home and away that can create such a huge divide in the performances. football.london spoke to Aaron Ramsdale after the game, the side’s arguable man of the match despite conceding four, and he struggled to put a reason on the differences between performances at home and away.
"I am not sure," Ramsdale told football.london. "That’s a question I can’t really answer.
"It’s the first time I have played here as an Arsenal player. Just for the first 45 minutes, we were a yard off the pace in pressing, in battles, in giving them chances.
"So, as I said, if you want to come here and get anything you need to outrun and out-fight them, and for 45 minutes we were just a bit off."
To have a chance of beating Man City you need, as Mikel Arteta put it, to be perfect and Arsenal weren’t. Being "off it" for the first 45 minutes as Ramsdale describes will see you punished and the scoreline at the break reflected that.
The result leaves Arsenal as the potential chasers should City win their games in hand. Having led the league all season, Ramsdale reflected with football.london on how he would rather have the points secured than needing to go into games needing a win to confirm the lead.
"I've not been in that position this season, so it's a difficult one to answer," Ramsdale said when asked about how he felt potentially being the chasers should City win their games in hand. "I know from a personal point of view at the different end of the table, you prefer to have points on the board than be chasing.
"We will just go into each game with five games to go trying to win all five and we will see where that leads us. Then you never know what can happen."
Chelsea, Newcastle, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Wolves are the games that remain for the Gunners. Certainly a tougher run than what their title rivals have but the Premier League remains a difficult one with City still in two more competitions themselves.
Ramsdale and Arsenal need to beat Chelsea to rediscover their winning form. All they can do now is focus on getting the wins and hoping for the best.
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