When can Arsenal win Premier League title after Man City beat Crystal Palace? | OneFootball

Gunners can no longer hope to be crowned on home soil at the Emirates Stadium

Arsenal’s 22-year wait to win the Premier League title will go on for at least another week after the latest twist in their thrilling fight with Manchester City.

The Gunners had crucially wrestled back the initiative from Pep Guardiola’s domestic treble chasers in recent weeks having lost 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in a crunch clash last month, winning all their games since then and also progressing past Atletico Madrid into the Champions League final, where they will meet reigning French champions and holders Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on May 30.

Nervy 1-0 triumphs over Newcastle and West Ham - the latter featuring no shortage of VAR controversy - were sandwiched between a far more comfortable victory against Fulham, with Arsenal going back to the top-flight summit and opening up a five-point lead as City could only salvage a last-gasp draw in a six-goal thriller against Everton.

But that was always in the knowledge that City possessed in their pocket a game in hand at home to Crystal Palace, which was eventually rearranged for Wednesday night after their FA Cup progress.

It was must-win territory for Guardiola’s men against a Palace side sitting down in 15th place and with one eye firmly fixed on the Conference League final.

However, Arsenal fans appeared to be given hope of another stumble after the City boss made six changes from Saturday’s 3-0 win over Brentford amid a brutal fixture schedule to end the season ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final showdown with Chelsea at Wembley - with the likes of Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all left on the bench.

Jean-Philippe Mateta thought he had scored early on for a Palace team who made four changes during their own hectic schedule, with the visitors looking more threatening on the break to start with despite City monopolising possession and territory in trademark fashion.

Eyes on the prize: Arsenal and Manchester City will both hope to win the Premier League title next week

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It was all too slow and ponderous for half an hour amid a subdued atmosphere at a rainy Etihad, until Phil Foden burst into life with a sensational backheel to release Antoine Semenyo, who fired beyond Dean Henderson.

That eased any sense of lingering tension and City doubled their lead before the break when Foden was again the provider for Omar Marmoush’s deflected strike.

An animated Guardiola was not happy at all with his side’s second-half efforts, until Savinho finished smartly after a fine run and assist from substitute Cherki to wrap up a commanding victory and put City’s goal difference marginally ahead of Arsenal’s (now +43 compared to +42 for the leaders).

When can Arsenal win Premier League title after Man City beat Crystal Palace?

City’s 3-0 defeat of Crystal Palace means that Arsenal can no longer seal the title when they host already relegated Burnley in their final home match of the season at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night, a game that was pushed back a day for television coverage.

Instead, the Gunners will now have to beat Burnley and hope that City do not win away against Champions League-chasing Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium 24 hours later.

The only scenario that will now see the title decided before the final day is if Arsenal defeat Burnley and City have any kind of slip-up on the south coast. City cannot hope to win it before the final day.

In the scenario that both teams win their next games, Arsenal would carry a two-point advantage into their final-day trip to face a Palace side at Selhurst Park who may be distracted by the prospect of their first European final, which takes place only three days later against Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig.

They will no doubt hope to quickly reverse that aforementioned goal difference deficit against a managerless Burnley who were condemned to an instant return to the Championship after defeat by City last month and then sacked Scott Parker, who was replaced on an interim basis by Mike Jackson as the club search for a new full-time head coach.

If Arsenal were to lose against Burnley in a major upset, then City would go into the final day top of the table ahead of the visit of an Aston Villa side still battling for a top-five finish who also first contest the Europa League final against Freiburg in Istanbul, as long as they then didn’t lose to Bournemouth.

An Arsenal draw coupled with a City win would see the latter top the table on goal difference, while an Arsenal loss followed by a City victory would see Guardiola’s men take a one-point lead into the last day.