Mikel Arteta only has himself to blame for giving Man City the advantage

Man City 2-1 Arsenal (Cherki 16′, Haaland 65′ | Havertz 18′)

ETIHAD — Mikel Arteta talked of Arsenal having the “fire” to win the Premier League title but his team have once again turned into April arsonists, singeing if not quite torching their best chance of glory in two decades.

They remain top of the table – for now. But this was a humongous win for Pep Guardiola’s mentality monsters, who brushed off the most farcical of first concessions to assert their authority over Arteta’s wobbling Gunners.

Arteta really only has himself to blame. For weeks it has been screaming for Arsenal to loosen the straitjacket and here he did, to an extent, genuinely setting out to win the game. But what might have worked against Bournemouth was an invitation to an in-form City, who had Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly causing havoc in the pockets of space where their two crucial goals were created.

You only had to witness the wild celebrations at the end to feel the significance of the result. Unfurling a banner proclaiming “Panic on the streets of London” felt, like that bloke chugging from an Arsenal bottle, as if it was for the television cameras but the eruption of noise at the end was certainly not confected. Guardiola punched the air while a pumped up Gianluigi Donnarumma leapt into the crowd. Eberechi Eze, by contrast, folded his shirt over his head. Dejection was etched across red and white faces.

By the time he came out for the press conference, Arteta’s mood had turned to defiance. He was right that his team played well. There was no inferiority complex or Viktor Gyokeres but he didn’t park the bus. Arsenal created chances, probed City and left space. They were also unfortunate, brushing the woodwork twice. Eze’s effort, which curled off the inside base of the post before rebounding into the penalty area, will bring the red half of North London out in a cold sweat for years to come.

But the big moments belonged to City, none more so than the decisive one that saw Erling Haaland hook the winning goal past David Raya midway through the second half.

The move was started by Donnarumma, hurling the ball to the outstanding O’Reilly. His combination with Jeremy Doku was superb, skimming a ball across the penalty area for Haaland to finish.

How he relished that moment, the high point of a brutish running battle with Gabriel Magalhaes. The pair engaged in their own running battle that was a throwback to a bygone era, right down to Haaland resisting the urge to sprawl to the floor when the Brazilian thrust his head at him.

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He was the headline grabber but not the game-changer. Bernardo Silva and O’Reilly vied for that title while Cherki was a joy to watch. His slaloming run and impudent finish on 16 minutes felt like a liberty in a game of the magnitude, setting the tone for a game played at breakneck speed.

Sure enough their lead lasted no more than two minutes. Much has been made about Arsenal’s inability to score goals but here they were presented with one: Donnarumma dawdling before being charged down by Kai Havertz for a gift-wrapped equaliser.

At that point Arsenal were edging it. But, as Arteta is finding out, the last thing you want is to tussle with Guardiola and City in springtime.