A brutal Man City beatdown or Arsenal to bounce back? GOAL writers predict Premier League title decider

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta lead their sides into battle, knowing the winner will be the huge favourite to seal the league title come May

And so it (probably) comes down to this. Manchester City hosting Arsenal, the Premier League title pretty much on the line at the home of the defending champions.

City head into the clash at the Etihad Stadium as favourites to defend their crown, despite them having been playing catch-up for pretty much the entire season and still need to bridge the current five-point gap to leaders Arsenal.

The Gunners, however, are coming off the back of three straight draws and are suddenly beginning to lose key players to injury, meaning they are the most vulnerable that they have been all season.

Being such a cornered animal might actually galvanise Mikel Arteta's side as he prepares to face his mentor, Pep Guardiola, once more, but can they produce the win they need to regain control of the title race?

GOAL's writers have shared their predictions for the game, and let us know how you think it will go in the comments below...

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'Impossible for any team to hang with City'
Mark Doyle: I said back in October that Arsenal, for all of their attributes, had no chance of winning the league because it would be impossible for them - or indeed anyone - to hang with City over the course of an entire campaign. I stand by that appraisal, even though I derive no joy from it.
Mikel Arteta's men have done better than I expected to top the table for this long - that's credit to their manager, their talent and their fighting spirit - but it's now only a matter of time before they're overhauled by the reigning champions.
Arsenal will make a game of it at the Etihad, they'll have a go, because they have to, of course. But City will eventually run out easy winners. Sadly for those that believe the Premier League is competitive, they're just too good for everyone else. State-backed City have the best manager, the best players and the best lawyers, all of which makes for an unstoppable winning machine.
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Arsenal

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'Arsenal have lost their heads'
James Westwood: The Gunners have already lost their heads, and City will blow them away to end their title hopes once and for all.
Erling Haaland will be smelling blood (and the Premier League scoring record) against an Arsenal side that looks completely out of sorts defensively, with Mikel Arteta set to receive another harsh lesson from his former mentor Pep Guardiola on what it takes to be the top dogs in English football.
Prediction: Man City 4-1 Arsenal
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'City in a title race are unstoppable'
Richard Martin: Once Man City get in their groove, there is nothing stopping them. Each time they have been seriously involved in a title race in April under Pep Guardiola, they have gone on to lift the Premier League crown.
Even though a draw would still leave City in a strong position to retain the title, their imperious record at the Etihad Stadium suggests they will go all out for the win and get it. They have won 23 of 25 home matches this season, scoring 89 goals while conceding only 19.
Guardiola's side look so self-assured right now, seeing off Bayern Munich, Leicester City and Sheffield United while barely breaking stride. Contrast that with Arsenal, who have resembled a nervous wreck in their last three outings.
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Arsenal

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'Saliba absence too big to overcome'
Matt O'Connor-Simpson: I might have backed Arsenal to get a point, but the loss of William Saliba through a back injury might be too big of a blow for them to overcome.
Man City just have too many different ways to hurt the Gunners' patched-up defence and have peaked at the perfect time this season.
Sorry Arsenal fans, but it's difficult to look past a home win, even if Mikel Arteta's side have caused City some genuine discomfort in the recent past.
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Arsenal
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'City to undo Arsenal on the counter'
Krishan Davis: My scoreline prediction doesn't reflect how I actually see the game going. Given what's at stake, I expect Arsenal to push City all the way, but they may be undone on the counter-attack late on.
The Gunners showed in the FA Cup in January that they are not afraid to go to the Etihad and play on the front foot, and they arguably deserved to win that game despite a much-rotated line up.
This game could follow a familiar pattern, but ultimately Arsenal will be undone by Man City's knowhow and the absence of William Saliba.
Prediction: Man City 3-1 Arsenal
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'Expecting City to slip up only ends in disappointment'
Neil Jones: As a Liverpool correspondent with experience of tight title races involving Manchester City, I can say with certainty that expecting Pep Guardiola's side to slip up is simply setting yourself up for disappointment.
Twice Liverpool have taken City to the final day of the season, both times securing remarkable 90+ points tallies, but both times City's know-how and attacking depth has got the job done, and I expect the same to happen with Arsenal this time around.
There was, let's be fair, a gulf between the two sides at the Emirates earlier in the season, and City have only improved since then.
I think the likes of Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne will be too much for a Gunners side without its best centre-back and with other players starting to show the wear and tear of a long, hard, pressure-filled season.
Prediction: Man City 2-1 Arsenal
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'Not a shock if Arsenal get something'
Charles Watts: No-one is giving Arsenal a chance going into this one, which is perhaps no surprise given how results have gone in recent weeks.
But Mikel Arteta's young side have bounced back from disappointment before this season and it would not shock me if they went to the Etihad and got something.
They will cause City problems going forward, I have no doubt about that, it's just about how they defend. That's been a real problem in the absence of William Saliba and I can't see them being able to shut out Erling Haaland and this City attack.
So I see plenty of goals in this game. It's going to be exciting.
Prediction: Man City 2-2 Arsenal
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'Haaland to lead a brutal beatdown'
Tom Maston: Any thought that this could be a close game surely went out the window on Friday as Arsenal lost almost-all composure against Southampton, and though a late winner for the Gunners might have altered my prediction a little, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a romp for City.
Expect the home side to grab a couple of goals in the first 20 minutes and ease home from there, with Erling Haaland scoring yet another hat-trick, showing once more how he thrives on the biggest of occasions.
City might yet drop points between now and the end of the season, but the brutality of this beatdown means Arsenal will too, and as such won't be able to capitalise in the overall title race.
Prediction: Man City 5-0 Arsenal