General Premier League Thread 2025/2026 - See Post #1 for Mod Note

west ham will beat arsenal 2 nil

Arsenal have it now, all they have to do is avoid defeat on Sunday, they'll hammer Burnley and Palace will rest everyone for the final. To be honest even Arsenal lose on Sunday I think they'll win it, I really don't see City winning all their games.

Unless City drop points, Arsenal have to win on Sunday

Ok, yeah I remember that. But I don’t think people can say say that was a stonewall penalty without maybe also saying that Everton should have had a red for the O’Brien(I think) tackle.

They've struggled against City for years. Last time they beat them, in any game, was a decade ago in Pep's first season in England when City were 10pts off the pace and ended up finishing behind Spurs in the league

Agree on the penalty not being stonewall. I challenge anyone not to see three of these in every game at corner time.

However, I wish they would give them all, as penalties, for a fortnight, so the players would have to be trained not to do this.

Arsenal's fixtures couldn't be much kinder.

Even Palace away on last day of the season (which ordinarily might be a tricky one) will have the feeling of a practice match. Palace will very likely be playing in the Conference League Final just 3 days later and won't be at full throttle by any means.

City's fixtures look very demanding, particularly with the FA Cup Final sandwiched in there too. Bournemouth away is another one where they could very likely drop points.

It's pretty much over, Arsenal can't possibly lose it from here.

Wayne Rooney made a good point the day City beat them at the Etihad few weeks ago. Some of the City players were over-celebrating like they had already won the title - when there were still five or six quite challenging games still to play.

I think it needs to be noted that Arsenal have turned things around pretty well since the City game.

Ground out a 1-0 win against Newcastle.

Better team against Atletico, even though they only drew.

Then they've battered Fulham.

City aren't the City of old, yet we all have treated them as if they might be. Arsenal had a blip, and seem to be steadying - which is what tended to be the sign of champions before Pep and Klopp came along and made a habit of steamrolling teams and getting habitual 90+ totals.

Saka made a world of difference on Saturday, so they're getting key players back. Also, City without Rodri is totally different, so we should've seen something like last night coming.

credit to Arsenal for this week. it would've been easy for them to succumb to the narrative that was developing.

The refs will probably say 'Normal Grappling' or some rubbish, to excuse it not being given.

One big takeaway from last night, for me, was that Kovačić looked completely off it.

In a strange way, losing the game at the Etihad actually helped them in some ways. Most of the pressure and expectation got lifted from them after that. There was an assumption City would go on a long winning streak to close out the season…..but this isn't the City of 4 years ago.

Arsenal were able to steady the ship with some decent results (even if the performances were a bit nervy some of the time). City meanwhile I think forgot that they still had some very challenging fixtures left, they may have thought winning the game a few weeks ago vs Arsenal was the title clincher.

I think ye can beat 2 of the 3 even if have a man sent off. Might be a bit more cautious if west ham hadn't been battered, but will account for them relatively comfortably, then Burnley are a mess. Cant make it hard for yourselves again surely

Yes. But they didn't win it. And the general narrative directly after that game was that City have it now. And Arsenal have blown it.

Not the case actually. City are well short of their standard from a few years ago and are making hard work of some of these games. Even the Burnley game, they weren't very good. This squad wasn't very likely to win 7, 8 games on the bounce. And they still have to visit Bournemouth (who are very difficult to beat).

Arsenal for their part have progressively improved in recent games. It's actually City who are blowing it now