Football Daily | Manchester City and a question of bottle in the Premier League title race

DRINK IT IN

When Jérémy Doku wheeled away in celebration with his finger to his lips after curling home a last-gasp equaliser for Manchester City at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday night, it was difficult to know who he was trying to shush. If the gesture was intended to mute the celebrations of Arsenal fans who had just witnessed their team seize the upper hand in the stumble toward this year’s title, it is unlikely to have had much effect. Doku’s second goal of the night was little more than an exercise in damage limitation that ensured his side blunderbussed themselves in just one foot, instead of both. At the front of the away end, ‘bottle man’ was far less performative, even if a telltale bulge about his person suggested he had come prepared for victory. Was that an unopened, Arsenal-branded bottle of salty tears in his pocket or was he just pleased to see his side come from 3-1 down to salvage a potentially useless point from the wreckage of an evening that started so promisingly?

“It’s better than losing,” sniffed Pep Guardiola of the draw, his incisive analysis going some way toward explaining why he gets the big bucks. “[The title is] not in our hands. Before it was, now it’s not. We have games left. We will see what happens.” Not for the first time this season, the big ball o’destiny is firmly back in Arsenal’s court and the title is very much in their hands. They need three wins from three to guarantee their first title in 22 years and could scarcely have handpicked easier opposition: 18th and 19th in the table, followed by a side who will almost certainly be distracted by a looming Tin Pot final in Leipzig. Already renowned for a lack of mental fortitude that doesn’t necessarily stand up to serious scrutiny, it seems utterly inconceivable that Arsenal can Devon Loch the title race from here. Should they contrive to mess this up with just three of the easiest fixtures imaginable to go, their status as elite-level “bottle jobs” will be as set in stone as it is thoroughly deserved.

“I am going to stay in my lane,” va-va-voomed Thierry Henry on Monday Night Football. “I am not going to celebrate too early. Nothing is done.” And while Henry is unlikely to be alone among Arsenal fans who refuse to jump the Gunnersaurus, those crying foul over Manchester City’s ability to draft in Marc Guéhi during the January window will have been offering up silent prayers of thanks after seeing the defender gift Everton the first of their three goals. While Guardiola’s future at the Etihad remains shrouded in uncertainty, that of Phil Foden seems more assured. The midfielder has reached an agreement in principle over a new four-year deal at the club. Now aged 25, Foden has come a long way since the days when pundits bickered over whether or not he might be better served going on loan to Preston than staying at City. Given his paucity of game time this season, there is still an argument to be made that he might be better off going on loan to Preston than staying at City.