When it comes to title races, games don’t get much bigger or more intriguing than Wednesday night’s clash between Manchester City and Arsenal.

The battle to be crowned champions has been a two-horse race for many months and, while Arsenal have been top of the pile for much of the season, the awesome City juggernaut has been hunting them down relentlessly.

Arsenal’s recent wobble has seen Pep Guardiola’s side close the gap to just four points, with the Manchester team crucially having a game in hand. Essentially that means Wednesday’s game is, for all intents and purposes, and barring some future twist, a winner-takes-all encounter.

Now, regular readers will know I have kept myself to myself pretty much when it comes to this season’s title race. I have been more preoccupied with the fascinating battle to avoid the drop than the fight to finish top.

However, and I have messages to prove this, I have been saying privately for a very long time that I was convinced City would claim the title. Even when Arsenal were way ahead and blowing teams away with their exciting brand of football, I still felt they would have a wobble, show a little weakness, and City would pounce.

It all boils down to experience. While Guardiola’s team have been there and done it before – repeatedly – Arteta’s lads are new to this whole winning-the-title thing. Just as Arteta himself is in uncharted territory as a manager.

I think City will be fired up like never before on Wednesday, will narrowly win the game, and then power on over the finish line to hand Guardiola his fifth Premier League title.

Arsenal will absolutely not roll over and die, of course. They will put up a fight at the Etihad and, irrespective of the result, will keep on punching and kicking till the last whistle of the season.

And yes, surprises can happen. But I suspect they are doomed to just miss out on what would have been a remarkable triumph that nobody – not the club’s fans, not the players and not even the manager – could have dreamed of before the season started.

Surprises can happen. But I suspect Arsenal are doomed to just miss out on what would have been a remarkable triumph

Assuming Arsenal do fall just short, what will be key for the Gunners is how they respond next season. And believe me, they will need to respond positively because the title race is going to be tighter than a turtle’s ass next time round.

City will obviously be looking for number six, Manchester United are on the way back, Liverpool will probably be a rebuilt beast, Chelsea have enough top-class players to launch two title challenges in the same season, Newcastle United will be looking to build on their astonishingly quick progress and Tottenham Hotspur might finally remember that they are supposed to be one of the big boys.

All in all, that means this young and relatively inexperienced Arsenal team are going to find life a whole lot tougher. That’s not to say they won’t be capable of mounting another challenge. But if you look at the bigger picture, you have to say this season was probably their best bet for short-term success.

Although I am most definitely not a Gunners fan in any shape or form, seeing them fall short with the finish line in sight will give me no pleasure. Truth be told, I would prefer Arsenal to win the league than City again.

But, sadly, I just don’t see that happening.

 

Oh no, promotion is coming!

All season I have been allowing myself to be excited about Sheffield United’s almost certainly successful battle to get promoted to the Premier League.

Now, with that goal all but achieved (it could be confirmed tomorrow if Luton Town don’t win), the reality of the situation has started to sink in. And my excitement has now been replaced by a combination of fear and reluctant acceptance.

Because when you get over the initial euphoria and giddiness, you realise that promotion for a team of United’s size and status pretty much means next season is going to be a living nightmare.

Yes, there is always the chance that new owners with bottomless bank accounts will take over the club, go on a Chelsea-esque spending spree, and the Blades make an unlikely bid for the title.

But the reality is much more likely that it will be a 38-game marathon of despair, scraping the occasional win, fluking the odd draw but, more often than not getting spanked by teams with better players, more experienced managers and bigger resources.

The last time United got promoted they took the top-flight by surprise with their bizarre overlapping centre-back ploy and a team of nobodies motivated by a passionate manager. They eventually finished in a very respectable ninth place.

But that was swiftly followed by a season of total horror when the tactics were no longer a surprise, the players realised they were out of their depth, and the manager abandoned ship.

This time, given that we have players who aren’t as good, a manager who isn’t as motivational, and an owner who is so desperate to sell he even went down the Nigerian prince route earlier this season, it’s going to be painful.

Forget second-season syndrome this time round – it’s the first season that terrifies me.

 

Your say

“Please note that Manchester United is a company, which means the shareholders want to make as much money as they can.

“The owners were lucky that they managed to increase the value of the club. Football in England is overvalued including the players and the salaries of the players. So why shouldn’t the shareholders join the bandwagon?

“As for Harry Maguire, I think he is a good, decent player. His own goal was unfortunate. I really do not know why everybody is against him.” Peter Montebello, e-mail.

 

While I am very much against the Glazers, I’m not against Maguire – he’s a Sheffield United lad, after all. And I have a lot of admiration for what he has achieved despite not being blessed with supreme natural talent. But he is, shall we say, a bit too clumsy and accident prone to be taken entirely seriously as a top level, international defender. Like the illegitimate love child of Tony Adams and Mr Bean.

 

E-mail: James@quizando.com

Twitter: @maltablade