Manchester City will be most neutrals’ clear favourites to go on and win the Premier League now, despite Liverpool and Arsenal also putting in a strong fight in the title race for so much of this season.
It may have been a pivotal weekend in the title race as Man City thrashed Luton Town 5-1 on Saturday, while Liverpool then lost 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace in the early game on Sunday, and Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa later that afternoon.
City generally look to have the slightly easier fixtures in the run-in, but it might actually be that there are more banana skins in there than initially seems obvious.
See below as Opta stats man Orbinho posted on X, formerly Twitter, that City face four away games in their remaining fixtures without the best record when it comes to defending on the road, while they also seem to struggle particularly when it comes to taking on Tottenham and Brighton on their travels…
Man City have 4 away games left. They've kept just 1 clean sheet in their last 9 Premier League away games. They've only won 1 of the last 3 away at Brighton. They drew away at Forest last season. They've never won, nor even scored at Spurs' new stadium. It's the hope that kills.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) April 15, 2024
Orbinho, an Arsenal fan, is clearly getting his hopes up slightly, but could this mean that the Gunners and the Reds shouldn’t be feeling too downbeat just yet?
Premier League title race: Can Arsenal or Liverpool still catch City?
It was this time last year that Pep Guardiola’s side went on an incredible winning run that saw them overtake Arsenal, who slipped up, and many people will understandably feel we’re about to see history repeating itself.
Few would be that surprised if City simply won all their remaining matches and just edged their rivals, even if they somehow managed to do the same, which seems less likely.
Arsenal, in particular, have probably the hardest games remaining, including away games against Manchester United and Spurs, so they really had to get three points in a game like Villa at home.
We’ve seen surprise comebacks in the past, however, with City themselves famously clawing back a eight-point deficit from Man United and winning the title on goal difference in 2011/12.