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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Jonathan Wilson

The Premier League title is Arsenal’s to lose. But pressure does strange things to teams

Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Oliver Glasner
Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Oliver Glasner will play huge parts in the final days of the season. Composite: Guardian Design

The title race should be done. All logic says it’s already over. Arsenal lead Manchester City by two points which means two wins in their final two games of the season would seal the title – and those two games are tonight against Burnley, who have been relegated, and, on Sunday against Crystal Palace, who will be preparing for the Europa Conference League final three days later. It’s hard, frankly, to imagine a better pair of fixtures for Mikel Arteta’s side to play at this stage of the season.

City’s games appear harder. On Tuesday they play away at Bournemouth, who are still fighting for Champions League qualification, whether by claiming fifth above Liverpool, or by taking sixth and hoping Villa win the Europa League but finish fifth. (It makes little sense but, under Uefa regulations, if Villa finish fourth and win the Europa League, there would be no sixth Champions League slot for Premier League clubs.) Man City finish at home against Aston Villa, who will just have returned from Istanbul and a Europa League final.

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