Manchester City will win Premier League title if they beat Arsenal on Saturday Night Football

If Manchester City go to Arsenal and win this weekend I think the Premier League title will be theirs.

Three points would mean City can afford to lose at Liverpool and still overtake Chelsea at the top of the table – and they’re more than capable of beating this low-on-confidence Arsenal side. 

A few weeks ago, when Arsene Wenger’s team were still title contenders, this game looked like it would be the biggest of the season - but despite Arsenal tailing off, there’s still plenty riding on this one

City need the points for their title push, while the home side can’t afford their season to dwindle away because Everton are challenging them for fourth.

It’s fine blowing away lesser teams but against bigger teams, when you need to dig in, Arsenal just don’t seem capable.

Arsenal’s 6-0 defeat to Chelsea last week was incredible, but we shouldn’t be surprised because it’s happened to them in all the big games this season: they lost 5-1 at Liverpool and 6-3 at the Etihad.

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You can understand losing by one or two to good sides like that but Arsenal have been conceding too many in what should be tight occasions. And that’s all because of their approach.

Arsenal go into these games so open with a team seriously lacking in strength. Chelsea must have looked at the opposition’s team sheet last Saturday and thought ‘they can’t live with our power here’.

Jose Mourinho went with David Luiz and Nemanja Matic as defensive midfielders from the start at Stamford Bridge. He wanted his Chelsea team to be really difficult to beat, strong and well-organised. Wenger, on the other hand, just sent his group of players out and said ‘go and play’.

As much as I like football being played in the right way, a lot of it is about power and being able to stop the other team – and Arsenal just don’t seem to have that.

It’s fine blowing away lesser teams but against bigger teams, when you need to dig in, they just don’t seem capable.

Forwards

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Arsenal don’t seize the big moments either. Three minutes into that game, Olivier Giroud had a great chance on his left foot to put them one up. He missed and Chelsea went down the other end and scored.

They’re the moments that decide titles and times when you need your forwards to make the difference.

Game changing strikers, like Robin van Persie and Sergio Aguero, though, cost money. If Arsenal had put their hands in their pocket and put £50m or £60m on the table in the summer for Luis Suarez they would have signed him – and probably won the title.

Wenger always wants to do things on the cheap, though. The problem is the days of being able to go and pluck the likes of Patrick Vieira or Thierry Henry or even Emmanuel Adebayor from obscurity for next to nothing just doesn’t happen anymore. Everyone is trying to do the same thing and the only way you can get those players is by paying up.

Wenger stumbled across Mathieu Flamini, who’s done okay this year and has been one of their better players in the big games, but he’s also played Mikel Arteta – who played on the right at Everton – as a defensive midfielder.

In the big games the back four need protection. Chelsea don’t play one defensive mid