Arsenal have a new blueprint on how to win the Premier League title | OneFootball

Gunners’ attacking tweaks provided optimism in defeat

Whatever destination Arsenal's season goes on to reach, the montage makers were given plenty of material at the Etihad Stadium.

Should the Premier League trophy end up back in Manchester City's possession, Mikel Arteta collapsing to his knees deep into stoppage time will be a defining image.

One more big missed opportunity after weeks - even months - of them. Kai Havertz should have headed in to earn Arsenal a point, just as the Gunners should have beaten Bournemouth a week ago to go 12 points clear.

Or showed some attacking ambition to do better than a goalless draw with Nottingham Forest in January.

If, however, Arsenal can defy those results and this setback at the Etihad, Declan Rice's full-time declaration will be set to a rousing soundtrack.

"It's not done," Rice told Martin Odegaard as the cameras panned to them. He was right and the Arsenal fans inside the stadium certainly agreed.

Football is a strange sport. A week ago, Arsenal were booed off after losing to Bournemouth. Eight days later, defeat in the club's biggest league match in two decades earned a warm ovation from the travelling supporters.

We can only assume the Opta supercomputer was among those fans, Arsenal shirt on and scarf swinging in the air.

Unfathomably, that model still has Arsenal as 73 per cent favourites to win the title. Those having to put money where their mouth is now have City as odds-on favourites.

Pep Guardiola's side will go top of the table on goal difference on Wednesday night if they beat Burnley. Then it will be a straight shootout to the finish.

The sense going into this match was that Arsenal could not afford to lose it and that doing so would near enough end their title hopes.

That was founded less in the points swing and more in the knock-on effect. A humbling defeat, one where Arsenal looked scared and approached it as an inferior side, would have been almost impossible to recover from.

After a poor run, it felt essential in the build-up that Arsenal set themselves up for one final charge with a positive result.

Perhaps they have done the former without the latter. There are no good ways to lose at this time of season - especially in matches of this magnitude - but some are better than others. This was maybe the best.

Martin Odegaard returned to the starting line-up

Getty

Arsenal were brave in large periods. They played as well as they have in weeks and there were attacking tweaks that paid off to provide some optimism.

Putting aside the fact that there would be no title race to speak of had Arsenal played with this energy and intent in the last few months, this did feel like a turning point of sorts, even despite the result.

Havertz started up front and made a big difference. With Martin Odegaard back in the side behind him, Arsenal's pressing game was transformed.

The Gunners won the ball back five times in the opening 25 minutes and set the tone. That attitude and more adventurous approach must be maintained until the end of the season.

Havertz is not a ruthless finisher and that was painfully exposed twice in the second half, but his overall game is levels above that of Viktor Gyokeres.

In 13 minutes on the pitch, Gyokeres did not have a single touch of the ball. On one occasion, he was beaten in the air by Bernardo Silva.

Havertz will let opportunities slip by, but Arsenal have a far better chance of creating plenty of them with him in the side.

Eberechi Eze also provided some positivity off the left. He drifted inside dangerously and was inches away from putting Arsenal in front when lashing an effort off the inside of the post.

He had some loose moments on the ball, and that might create hesitancy in Arteta's mind. However, this is not the time for caution.

Eze is far more of a threat on the left than Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard. In a title race that could now come down to goal difference, Arteta cannot afford to be primarily concerned with containing the opposition.

Eberechi Eze was unlucky not to score

Getty

Getting Arsenal to score as many goals as possible is the priority. Starting Havertz, Odegaard and Eze is the best path to that.

Add in Bukayo Saka on the right when he has recovered from an Achilles injury, and the greater balance of Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori as the two full-backs, and that is a really exciting Arsenal lineup.

Arteta claiming his players were now “more convinced” they can win the title was a classic case of a manager having no choice but to try to shape the narrative.

However, Arteta could not and would not have said that had Arsenal been swatted aside.

His team will know that if they play like this against Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace - with the addition of some more ruthless finishing - five wins are very possible.

That could well be enough to win the title. Arteta and Rice think so, as does the supercomputer. City now have to contend with the very different pressure of losing the freedom that comes with being the chaser.

If the Etihad display was a blueprint for how Arsenal will approach their final five league matches, all hope is not yet lost. Their title race is not yet run.