What the Premier League is all about: The Citizens are planning to get rid of Arsenal. Who will make it a straight fight for the league title?

We are just hours away from the season’s showpiece between Manchester City and Arsenal. In the 11th episode of our weekly column, in which we analyse the interesting facts from the world of English football, we will look at the title race and the struggling Leeds.

Citizens cut Arsenal out

For a long, long time it looked like Arsenal would go into the game at the Etihad Stadium in a position where a draw would be enough to keep top spot.

But three Gunners draws in a row have turned the situation around. And yet losses to West Ham and Southampton were so unnecessary.

Manchester are five points behind the top of the table but have two games in hand. Against Arsenal, they only need to play for a draw. Moreover, they are in their best form all season and will want to cut off their rivals for good.

The important thing for the match is that the Gunners’ defensive mainstay William Saliba won’t have time to recover. Rob Holding, who has long struggled in big games, will be the replacement. For example, last year he got sent off in the match against Tottenham (0:3), which cost Arsenal the Champions League.

It is Saliba’s absence, coupled with the Citizens’ dominance in all competitions, that signals that Pep Guardiola will be in a unique position to secure a possible rest until the end of the season. And he’ll be a damn good one, given the huge desire to succeed in the Champions League.

Leeds are sinking

We’ve been discussing the relegation zone week by week, this time we’ll stop with The Whites. It has been struggling pretty much since the start of the season, but a boisterous home crowd and decent performances in front of it have kept the Yorkshire outfit above the relegation zone.

A single point from the last three rounds, however, means the gap to the last three in the competition has been reduced to two points. At the same time, Leeds have now gone nine rounds without a clean sheet, conceding an average of 2.6 goals each time in that period.

The Whites managed a six-point draw against Leicester, which is simply not enough in a home environment. They missed chances to increase their lead, looked inexperienced overall and could have been back to square one had Jamie Vardy looked offside.

Source: Premier League