Premier League title race: “It’s not over until it’s over” for Man City despite “beautiful watch” for Arsenal

Ahead of Saturday evening’s Premier League clash between title hopefuls Manchester City and European-chasing Brentford, hear what the Sports Mole team have to say about the upcoming battle.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter: “It's not over until it's over”

I was at this game (Everton 3-3 Man City). It was a crazy, topsy-turvy game, very entertaining. A game that City bossed for the whole of the first half, and deservedly went in front with that wonderful goal from [Jeremy] Doku.

Then after the break, City just seemed to lose their way a little bit. A couple of defensive mishaps proved costly. City just switching off defensively and a couple of other refereeing decisions maybe went against them.

Despite all that, City did find a way to snatch a point at the death. [Erling] Haaland scored his 25th Premier League goal this season and Doku scored another worldie right at the end, last minute of the game.

Doku was brilliant all night. He's hitting form at an important moment for City. Six goal involvements in his last five appearances now (four goals, two assists), and I'd be surprised if he didn't start on the left again this weekend.

I think a lot of City fans will have come away from this game with mixed emotions, because they'll be happy to have seen City fight back in the way they did to come from 3-1 down with 10 minutes to go.

Who knows how important a point could be, but you'd still think Arsenal are the favourites to win the league. Ultimately, the goal was to claim three points (against Everton) and there will be a strong feeling of disappointment now that the title race is out of their hands.

It's not over until it's over, of course. Haaland said that after the game. [Pep] Guardiola suggested that too, but Arsenal are certainly in the driving seat now to win this title.

City will do their best to bounce back and beat Brentford on Saturday, and a win would reduce the gap at the top to two points. Then they'll be praying that West Ham, fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, can claim something from that game against Arsenal and frustrate the Gunners in the way that they frustrated City in the 1-1 draw in London in March.

City have just got to do their bit now. They've got a strong record against Brentford. Five wins and a draw in the last six games, so they'll fancy their chances of winning, but who knows what it'll actually mean come the end of the season.

Matt Law, Football Editor: ‘City will pray West Ham can pull a big result’

I don't think it's a particularly fantastic Man City team. I'm just not sure you can trust them.

Late on in the season, have they got another dropped points in them, even if Arsenal were to drop points against West Ham? But it was a crazy game (against Everton), wasn't it? I thought when they went 1-0 up against Everton, they'd be in there.

I agree with Oliver, I think Doku's been really good recently. He was always one where you weren't really sure how good he was. Obviously, the physical attributes are enormous, but everything else was a little bit hit-and-miss.

But they’re coming together now and he's really saved them in that game. Two beautiful goals in that game, and you never know how big that point could be.

They were down and out and the loss would have been really damaging. The draw is obviously really damaging as well for Man City, but you just never know what's going to happen.

They've got to go and win this game (against Brentford) and pray that West Ham can pull a big result out of the hat and take it to the next week.

I hope for the title's sake that there is a bit of a swing this weekend… I do want to see this go to the wire if possible, and I think a lot of neutrals, if you can call anyone neutral, want that to be the case, so I am hoping that Man City get the result they need in this game.

Ben Knapton, Site Coordinator: ‘Arsenal not perturbed at all by City fightback’

Looking back at that Everton game, I was obviously watching it very intently and even when Doku scored that amazing equaliser, as soon as it left his foot you knew it was in, but I wasn't perturbed at all.

City picking up one point compared to no points makes little difference to me and I think to all Arsenal fans, because Arsenal were in full control.

[Looking at City’s fixture list], City do have the FA Cup final on there, but it is against the worst-form team in the league in Chelsea, so you'd expect they'd win that quite comfortably.

A draw versus a defeat for City in the Everton game made little difference for Arsenal, because we just need to get over the line in these three very winnable final games, maybe even two if City do slip up again, and I've got full confidence that Arsenal will do that.

It was a surprise to see City implode, I think it is a fair word to say, in the Everton game. They did implode a little bit at the back, especially Marc Guehi, very shaky display from him, and it's a City side that you always associate with just winning every single game from April, May.

Man City are a sort of springtime juggernaut usually, so maybe they just did feel the pressure a bit in that game and, to Arsenal's benefit, it was a beautiful watch.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter: ‘Brentford have it in their locker to pull off an upset’

I think it'd be great for Brentford (to qualify for Europe). They've been overachieving this season considering what's happened last summer and with Keith Andrews coming in.

No one really gave Brentford much of a chance (before the season began), so for them to be in this position at this stage of the season is quite remarkable really.

They had a six-game winless run, five draws and one defeat, and people questioned whether they would get over the line and get into Europe, but they've ended that run by beating West Ham 3-0 last weekend. That was a much-needed win to boost their hopes of getting into the top seven.

Against City they will be underdogs, but a lot of games between Brentford and City have been quite even. They've often been quite tight.

City's eight victories over Brentford since 1997 have all been by either a one or two-goal margin, five of those by one goal, so Brentford have put up a fight in a lot of those games.

They've beaten City at the Etihad a couple of years ago. I remember Ivan Toney scoring twice in a 2-1 win (in November 2023), so they've got it in their locker to pull off an upset here.

City have to be on it and perform at their best if they wish to claim all three points. I don't think it'll be a straightforward fixture, considering how City have come away from the Everton game and Brentford bouncing back with their win.

It might be a tighter game than people may think. City will of course be favourites, but it could be a tricky one for City.