Ranking the 10 most hyped games in Premier League history ahead of Man City vs. Arsenal | OneFootball

The hype machine has cranked into overdrive ahead of Manchester City‘s clash with Arsenal this weekend.

Sky Sports, in particular, are masters of their craft when it comes to talking up a big game. Some hotly anticipated matches became instant classics, while others faded into obscurity despite enormous anticipation and wall-to-wall coverage before kickoff.

We’ve taken a closer look at 10 of the most-hyped matches in Premier League history, and judged whether or not they lived up to their billing.

10. Man City vs QPR (2011-12)

This one only just sneaks in because – on paper – it should’ve been a boring, routine home win.

Man City had only dropped two points on home soil all season. Relegation-threatened QPR had the worst away record in the division and went to the Etihad off the back of six defeats on the road. Walkover guaranteed.

Still, the hype was there because it was the climax to an unforgettable title race between the two Manchester clubs. City’s final hurdle had a narrative edge, if not a competitive one.

Pablo Zabaleta putting nerves to bed with the opener shortly before half-time should’ve been that. Except it wasn’t. You know what happened next.

The most chaotic, bonkers half of football in Premier League history?

Did it live up to the hype? Not half.

9. Man City vs Liverpool (2018-19)

The Premier League fixture computer dropped a clanger by scheduling the second meeting between – by a huge distance – the best two sides in the country in early January. Before FA Cup third round weekend FFS.

Having it mid-season dulled the hypeometer somewhat, but it was still billed as a title-decider – and proved to be.

Jurgen Klopp’s Reds went to the Etihad with a healthy lead after nine straight league wins. A victory would’ve given them a surely unassailable lead.

In the end, it was City that came out of a breathless contest, with Leroy Sane’s match-winner and John Stones goal-line clearance proving decisive come the final table.

This was Liverpool’s only defeat of the season, they won their last nine, but it wasn’t enough – they ended on 97 points, one behind Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City.

“For pure footballing excellence, City vs Liverpool was the zenith of the rivalry between two elite teams and coaches,” Jamie Carragher later reminisced.

“A duel between the best team in the world with the ball, and the best team in the world without it.”

We’re inclined to agree.

Did it live up to the hype? Absolutely, 100%

8. Aston Villa vs Sheffield United (2019-20)

Those few football-starved months in the spring of 2020 feel like a weird dream now.

After a particularly desperate period of tuning into the Bundesliga, the Premier League’s ‘Project Restart’ followed in mid-June to see out the remainder of the 2019-20 season behind closed doors.

The first game back was the glamour tie of Aston Villa vs Sheffield United. A goalless bore draw best remembered for a goal-line technology balls-up that cost Chris Wilder’s Blades a legitimate goal – and might just have saved Villa from relegation.

Man City’s 3-0 win over Arsenal later that evening was a bit more like it.

Did it live up to the hype? Not at all, but we were glad for it nonetheless.

7. Man Utd vs Arsenal (2001-02)

Arsene Wenger’s Gunners had the FA Cup in the bag, and just four days later they sealed a famous Double with victory at Old Trafford.

Sylvain Wiltord’s goal stopped Manchester United from winning four in a row.

Did it live up to the hype? The game itself, nah. But Wiltord’s winner will never be forgotten.

6. Chelsea vs Tottenham (2015-16)

We’re not including any of Leicester City’s games in this list, weirdly.

In hindsight, their 3-1 victory away to Manchester City in early February was the defining win of Leicester City’s fairytale – when it went from a mad hypothetical to “this is actually happening”. But it was a bit too early and few realised the magnitude at the time.

Really, the most anticipated game of Leicester’s season didn’t involve them – with Jamie Vardy and his pals amongst millions watching the title clincher from the comfort of their sofas.

Did it live up to the hype? Very much so – especially for fans of violence.

5. Man City vs Man Utd (2011-12)

This was considerably more hyped than the QPR match. The most anticipated Manchester derby in history took place on a Monday night in late April, the third-last game of the season.

City had looked to have blown in with a poor run of results the month prior – losing at Swansea, drawing at Stoke, somehow drawing 3-3 at home to Sunderland – but United’s unlikely, unexpected wobble allowed them back into it.

Victory on home soil would put the title back in City’s hands. The game itself was nowhere near as memorable or entertaining as City’s 6-1 victory in the reverse fixture, but the tension was absorbing in itself – a bit like the 2010 and 2014 World Cup finals.

The game, and the title, was decided by Vincent Kompany’s thumping header. Bang.

A reported viewership of four million makes it Sky Sports’ most-watched Premier League game ever.

Did it live up to the hype? For City fans, yes. For neutrals, a little less so.

4. Man Utd vs Chelsea (2009-10)

The particulars of Chelsea’s Premier League title victories have largely been forgotten for anyone not of a Blue persuasion.

Most of them, particularly the three under Jose Mourinho, ended up something of a procession come the run-in.

The exception was the 2009-10 campaign, in which things looked on a knife-edge when Carlo Ancelotti’s free-scoring Chelsea side went to Old Trafford in early April, having briefly dropped off the top of the table following dropped points in February and March.

Sky inevitably went the whole hog in billing it as a title decider, which, to be fair, it effectively was.

Joe Cole and Didier Drogba scored in a 2-1 win, Chelsea leapfrogged United back to the top and saw it home from there.

Some Man United fans still moan about Drogba’s offside goal, but any controversy was cancelled out by Federico Macheda’s handball consolation.

Did it live up to the hype? Decent enough game. Not a classic.

3. Man City vs Arsenal (2022-23)

Arsenal built up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table when they cruised past Leeds United on April 1st, 2023.

It was their seventh successive league win, and they were winning games comfortably, scoring threes and fours routinely as if the weight of history and the prospect of a first league title in almost 20 years hadn’t dawned on them.

The good times looked set to continue when they raced into an early two-goal lead at Anfield, but they let that slip and let their anxiety show in subsequent score draws against West Ham and Southampton.

Treble-bound Man City were on an ominous winning streak and had reeled them in by the time they hosted the wobbling Gunners in late April.

Still, it was there for Arsenal. Win in Manchester and they’d be back in the driving seat. Sky rinsed it for all it was worth.

And Arsenal themselves contributed massively to all the pre-match noise before their brutal 4-1 defeat to Guardiola’s juggernaut. It’s not a lesson they’ve heeded since.

Did it live up to the hype? Yes. Particularly if you enjoy Arsenal-based schadenfreude.

2. Liverpool vs Newcastle (1995-96)

What a midweek treat.

Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers looked destined to lift the Premier League trophy after a superb two-thirds of the 1995-96 campaign. But they allowed Manchester United back into the race by winning just one of five games from February into late March.

A trip to Anfield, fresh from a 2-0 loss at Highbury, was a mouth-watering prospect for the broadcasters. Win and they were back on the horse. Lose and the bottle job was almost complete.

The seven-goal thriller that followed is still widely regarded as the greatest Premier League game in history.

Did it live up to the hype? Yes. A thousand times yes.

1. Arsenal vs Man Utd (2002-03)

We couldn’t have any other fixture at No.1. Nothing quite matches the peak years of Arsenal and Manchester United’s rivalry around the turn of the century.

There’s an argument that Klopp’s Liverpool versus Guardiola’s City eclipsed it for pure footballing quality, but the needle and ferocity was on another level. That’s what made it appointment viewing.

Looking back, this is actually a relatively lesser-remembered match. It doesn’t have its own Wikipedia page, unlike the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ and the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ which came before and after.

But at the time, scheduled for mid-April, the stakes couldn’t have been much higher. The title race was going down to the wire and you suspect whoever won at Highbury that evening would have got their hands on the trophy.

As it was, a 2-2 draw kept things as they were, denying us a decisive moment, the title race rolling over to the final five games. Arsenal’s next home game against Leeds – an infamous 2-3 defeat to the relegation-battlers – proved to be the defining game of the run-in.

Did it live up to the hype? A good game that lacked a satisfying conclusion. 3-2 either way would’ve made it an all-timer.