Man City vs Arsenal form guide: How are both title contenders playing?

Manchester City and Arsenal go into their potential Premier League title decider, both on long unbeaten runs, but with momentum that perhaps leans towards City.

Here the recent form of both sides is evaluated.

manchester city

City are unbeaten in 16 games in all competitions since losing to Tottenham in early February, with 13 wins and three draws in that run.

The only team to have taken a league point from them in that time is, notably, relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest, who clinched a 1-1 draw in February thanks to Chris Wood’s late equaliser. City have won their other eight league games in that run, picking up 25 points from the last 27 available.

Such form in the matchup is nothing new for City, and the similarity to last season looks uncanny. They then lost to Spurs in February and went unbeaten thereafter, with nine wins and three draws taking them to the title one point ahead of Liverpool.

That was almost a repeat of the 2018-19 season, when they won their last 14 games to beat Liverpool by one point again – the Reds themselves have won their last nine and were unbeaten in 17 after their crucial January loss to City.

The 2017-18 title was won in procession by Pep Guardiola’s men, but City won five and drew one of their last six games to finish with a record 100 points.

Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final victory keeps them in the hunt for a treble, with a derby final against Manchester United to come and a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.

Arsenal

Arsenal enter the game on a run of three dramatic draws in a row, and with questions about their nervousness in the match.

They led 2-0 early against Liverpool and West Ham, only to fall behind and draw 2-2. Against Southampton, by contrast, they trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before scoring twice in the last three minutes to salvage a 3-3 draw.

They had won seven consecutive league games previously, including three in a row by three-goal margins, giving them 24 points out of a possible 30.

That run was cut short by a Europa League elimination on penalties against Sporting Lisbon, drawing both legs of the round of 16, but they remain unbeaten in 10 league games, one more than City, and scoring three goals or more in seven of those games. – and 12 in all competitions.

key men

City striker Erling Haaland’s run of 15 goals in seven games ended in the FA Cup semi-final, but he has seven goals and two assists in City’s nine-game unbeaten league run, including doubles against Southampton and Leicester .

Kevin De Bruyne has contributed two goals and four assists in those league games and Jack Grealish three of each, while Riyad Mahrez is coming off a hat-trick at Wembley.

Gabriel Martinelli has eight goals in Arsenal’s last 10 league games, as well as three assists.

Martin Odegaard has scored in back-to-back games while on a 10-game unbeaten run in the league, Bukayo Saka has five goals and three assists and Leandro Trossard has assisted seven goals, including all three in the win over Fulham.