Arsenal get Premier League title boost after Liverpool humbling - but Arteta knows brutal truth

Arsenal may well have just been handed their biggest Premier League title boost of the season so far with Liverpool's humbling 3-0 defeat at Manchester City meaning they have already lost more games over the last few months than in the entirety of their title-winning campaign.

Adding Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong to an already excellent squad saw Arne Slot's side become the clear favourites to win the league and retain their title. And 15 points from their first five games, which included a win over the Gunners, supported that theory.

However, there were clear problems on show even in all of those triumphs and they were brutally exposed over the following weeks. After losing to Crystal Palace, Liverpool were also beaten by Chelsea, Brentford and Manchester United all while Arsenal picked up maximum points.

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This saw a huge turnaround at the top with the Gunners seven points clear of the champions prior to facing Burnley last weekend. That gap stretched into double-figures after Mikel Arteta's side won 2-0, but Liverpool finally responded as they beat Aston Villa by the same score line later that day.

A 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League earlier this week seemed to indicate that Liverpool were back on track with that coming at the perfect time ahead of their trip to Manchester City.

Arsenal dropping points in the final moments of their clash against Sunderland set up an enticing counter at Etihad Stadium, but only one team actually turned up. Erling Haaland and Nico Gonzalez were both on target in a dominant first half for City with the former even missing an early penalty.

Virgil van Dijk thought he had equalised earlier in that period, but it was ruled out for an offside against Andy Robertson. Jeremy Doku then added a brilliant third midway through the second half with Liverpool handily beaten on Pep Guardiola's 1000th game as a manager.

Having failed to capitalise on Arsenal's rare slip-up, the gap between the two has remained at eight points which will come as a huge boost for Arteta.

Unfortunately for the north Londoners, City winning has taken them to within four points off Arsenal and that is still with a clash at Etihad Stadium to come.

After such a turbulent 2024/25 season, City have largely been forgotten about, but it has to be remembered this team have won three of the last four league's. Capable of going on outstanding winning runs, City are absolutely title contenders and Arteta brutally knows that.

Despite racking up 89 points two seasons ago, City finished top with 91. Had Arsenal managed that total last season, they would have won the league.

Arsenal are still the favourites, but this performance by Guardiola's side served as a clear reminder that there is absolutely a title race to come, especially with 27 games still to play.