Arsenal is hopeful that Man City will help them win the title

Even if Manchester City isn’t used to taking a backseat in a Premier League title match, Sunday’s home matchup against leaders Liverpool at least gives Pep Guardiola’s unimpressive team an opportunity to take center stage once more.

With a 17-point deficit behind Liverpool, fourth-place City’s dreams of winning the Premier League for a record-breaking fifth time in a row are long gone.

Although last week’s 4-0 thumping of Newcastle United demonstrated that City is far from a spent force, this week’s 6-3 aggregate loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League underscored the extent of their collapse.

Arsenal, in second position, will undoubtedly be hoping that City sees the match against Liverpool as an opportunity to get over any residual Champions League jitters.

Liverpool losing two points in a 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa on Wednesday will have given Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team a lot of motivation.

After the game, Arne Slot expressed his annoyance over the door being left slightly open.

Arsenal currently has a game in hand and may put some pressure on Slot’s team by defeating West Ham United at home on Saturday, even if they are eight points behind Liverpool.

If Arsenal wins and Liverpool loses at The Etihad, Arsenal will have played one more game and the difference will be just five points. At that point, the race for the crown would be fierce.

Slot’s behavior against Villa indicated he would have preferred a larger advantage, but their two draws in their last three games haven’t exactly raised any red flags at Anfield.

Slot, whose team hosts Newcastle United next Wednesday, stated on Thursday that “you have to accept that we have a few tough ones in a row on our current schedule.”

“The positive thing about going into a run of games like this is that we are still at the top and are not trailing anyone.

“We are aware that Arsenal has 13 games left, whereas we have 12. It won’t benefit us if we are always observing Arsenal or what other teams are doing.

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For the past two seasons, Arsenal has been in the running for the championship, but both times they have fallen short of City.

With players like Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz out for the remainder of the season and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli out until April, injuries have drastically limited Arsenal’s attacking options. Nevertheless, they are still competitive because of their ability to grind out results.

Arsenal defeated West Ham 2-0 in their most recent home match, but they have already defeated West Ham 6-0 in the London Stadium this season, winning 5-2 there.

Although West Ham sits 10 points above the drop zone in 16th position, they have only won one of their five league games under new manager Graham Potter, and a few more losses might give them the chills.

Lucas Paqueta will not play for the Hammers in the derby after he was knocked during practice.

“It is obvious that we need to improve in terms of results. We want more points now that we’re in the Premier League,” Potter stated.

Several teams hoping to finish in the top four play this weekend, including third-place Nottingham Forest against seventh-place Newcastle United and sixth-place Chelsea against ninth-place Villa.

When Bournemouth, who have only lost once in their past 13 league games, hosts Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are currently in 17th place, on Saturday, they have the opportunity to pass City and take fourth place. Brentford will play 19th-place Leicester City on Friday to start the weekend’s schedule.