Premier League title race 'decided by Sky Sports' amid Arsenal 'bottle jobs' claim

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Evening Standard

·19 February 2026

Premier League title race 'decided by Sky Sports' amid Arsenal 'bottle jobs' claim

Gunners are repeatedly scheduled to play after Man City

The Premier League title race will be decided by broadcasters Sky Sports and TNT Sports, claims Paul Merson.

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Arsenal last night dropped points against bottom-of-the-table Wolves to hand the initiative back to Manchester City, who now have a game in hand over the league leaders and take on Newcastle before the Gunners are next in action.

It means City can cut the gap to Arsenal to just two points the evening before Mikel Arteta's side take on Tottenham in a heated north London derby.

City play ahead of Arsenal in two of the next three Premier League gameweeks, and play at the same time as them in the other, and Merson believes the pressure of having to respond will take its toll.

"Title will go down to whoever plays first, and Sky have a massive part to play in that," Merson said following Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Wolves.

"Tiger Woods always wanted to take the first tee shot to put the pressure on. I saw it many years ago when Spurs always had to respond to Leicester. It takes its toll in the end."

The next round of Premier League fixtures changes for TV coverage are set to be announced on March 4, covering gameweeks 32 to 34.

Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville, Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher

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Arsenal have now won just two of their last seven Premier League games, and Merson believes the pressure is getting to a Gunners team with little to no experience of winning trophies.

Assessing the result, Merson said: "It's disappointing. You can't play in second gear. When Wolves went to 2-2, there was an urgency. They didn't have that before. You can't play like that. Every game is a cup final to the end.

"It's going come on full blast now, being bottle jobs, melting. It's full-on now - drawing away at Brentford and then being two goals up against the worst team in the league."

Arteta said Arsenal "deserved" to drop points - having seen their lead cut from a potential 11 points to possibly two come Sunday morning. Merson questioned the reaction of the Gunners boss.

Merson stated: "I was quite shocked with the interview of Arteta. It's the first time, really, I've seen him not majorly positive. He usually comes out and says, 'we did this, we did that.

"He's saying, 'we deserved the hit,' instead of coming out and saying, 'we're five points clear. As long as we don't get beat by Manchester City, we win the league.'

"It wasn't like that. I was a bit worried with that interview. Even he is thinking now. You can only do so much for the team and when you watch that, there is something missing, I can't put my finger on it but there is something missing."