It is set to be the tightest Premier League title race in many years.
Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Brentford on Tuesday evening lifted Pep Guardiola’s champions above Arsenal into second place – one point behind leaders Liverpool – with 13 rounds of fixtures remaining.
For the first time since 2015-16, when the third-placed Gunners were two points behind leaders Leicester after 26 games, the top three are separated by just two points.
In fact, that gap at the top has only been as tight at this stage of a Premier League season on seven other occasions – and only four times this century.
Erling Haaland’s 22nd goal of the campaign means City’s hopes of becoming the first team to lift the trophy four times in a row are very much still in their own hands – with a crucial match against Liverpool coming up in March at Anfield.
“It’s a long way [to go],” manager Pep Guardiola said afterwards. “There are still many games. Of course, it’s better to win. We missed the opportunity against Chelsea [on Tuesday].
“I’m so proud of the team. We are closer but we are in the real part of the season. [We have] tough, tough games in this period. We are there.”
| Liverpool | Manchester City | Arsenal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | Luton (H) | ||
| CARABAO CUP FINAL | Bournemouth (A) | Newcastle (H) | |
| March | Nottingham Forest (A) | Manchester United (H) | Sheffield United (A) |
| Manchester City (H) | Liverpool (A) | Brentford (H) | |
| Everton (A) | Brighton (A) | Chelsea (H) | |
| Brighton (H) | Arsenal (H) | Manchester City (A) | |
| April | Sheffield United (H) | Aston Villa (H) | Luton (H) |
| Manchester United (A) | Crystal Palace (A) | Brighton (A) | |
| Crystal Palace (H) | Luton (H) | Aston Villa (H) | |
| Fulham (A) | Tottenham (A) | Wolves (A) | |
| West Ham (A) | Nottingham Forest (A) | Tottenham (A) | |
| May | Tottenham (H) | Wolves (H) | Bournemouth (H) |
| Aston Villa (A) | Fulham (A) | Manchester United (A) | |
| Wolves (H) | West Ham (H) | Everton (H) |
Guardiola’s team arguably have the most difficult run of fixtures in the coming weeks. After travelling to Bournemouth on Saturday, City welcome bitter rivals Manchester United to Etihad Stadium before that highly anticipated trip to Anfield in their next league game.
They then face Brighton away before back-to-back home games against Arsenal and Aston Villa – the last team to beat the champions on 6 December.
Arsenal trail City by a point but are currently the league’s form team, having begun a calendar year with five successive wins for the first time in their history.
As well as putting six goals past West Ham and five past both Crystal Palace and Burnley, the Gunners also moved to within two points of Liverpool with victory over the Reds in a tense encounter at Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta’s side have a favourable run of fixtures before hosting London rivals Chelsea in mid-March, taking on an inconsistent Newcastle side on Saturday night before games against Sheffield United and Brentford.
They visit Manchester City on the final day of March – just over two weeks after welcoming Chelsea to Emirates Stadium.
As for Liverpool, the loss in north London on 4 February remains their only league defeat in their past 18 games, and they recovered from that setback with back-to-back victories over Burnley and Brentford.
After taking on struggling Luton and Nottingham Forest in their next two games, Jurgen Klopp’s team host City on 10 March before travelling to Goodison Park for the Merseyside derby a week later. That match is followed by home games against Brighton and Sheffield United before a trip to Old Trafford on 6 April.
Whatever happens, there are certain to be plenty of twists and turns between now and the final day of the campaign on 19 May.