Sorry, Arsenal - Man City are unimpressive but inevitable! Underwhelming win at Nottingham Forest only highlighted how the Premier League title race is already over

Arsenal know that they must win their three remaining games to stand a chance of pipping City to the title, and after surviving an angst-ridden finale against their local rivals, they will view their final trio of games as winnable.

Next up is a home match against a decent Bournemouth side but ultimately one with little to play for. Then they head to a dis-jointed and highly unpredictable Manchester United, who will also have little to play for after missing out on Champions League football and who are guaranteed to allow them at least 20 shots. And given a Red Devils' victory would effectively hand the title to City, there will be no great clamour from the home crowd for their side to win.

Arsenal end the season at home to Everton, a team they routinely thrash at the Emirates Stadium and who also have nothing to play for after securing their Premier League status. There should be no repeat of last year's spectacular collapse for the Gunners.

"Last year we didn’t [handle the run-in well], we went to West Ham and we needed a result and we missed a penalty, and then against Liverpool we conceded in the 91st minute and we were not capable," Arteta said.

"The judgement is going to be based on the result - if we concede a goal in the last minute [against Tottenham] and it’s 3-3… The margins are so small so we don’t get carried away with ourselves. Just understand that we have to be better and the margin for improvement, and go again against Bournemouth which is going to be really tough."

He knows his players will give everything and, unlike last year, push City all the way. "One hundred percent. I have seen that the whole season and they have given me reason to believe that every single day. They have the motivation so I am expecting that they will have a real go," he added.

And yet, at the bottom of his heart, Arteta must also feel pessimistic about the prospect of City dropping any points in their remaining four matches.

If it ever looked like City were going to drop points, then Sunday's game against a Forest side with fire in their bellies after their controversial defeat by Everton looked like it would be it. Chris Wood missed golden chances in either half and Murillo hit the bar from a couple of yards out. City's breakthrough goal from Josko Gvardiol, meanwhile, came from a corner.

It just feels like everything is going City's way, and it must be hugely demoralising for Arsenal. Arteta's side may have a tougher backbone than in the past, but City are equally resilient, if not more so, and have more resources to call upon.

Ederson had to go off injured and he may miss the rest of the season, but Stefan Ortega is an excellent back-up. The German dealt much better than Ederson had done with Forest's aerial threat and he reacted superbly to the home side's best effort of the game, flying towards his left top corner to tip Callum Hudson-Odoi's venomous shot away.

And when City needed a second goal to see off the threat from Forest once and for all, they were able to call upon Erling Haaland. This was the perfect scenario for Haaland, facing a tired opponent who had to push down the other end for an equaliser. He was able to nip in behind and count upon a typically astute delivery from Kevin De Bruyne, from which he effectively settled the game.

Haaland has been criticised for his performances in the toughest games this season, having drawn blanks in both matches against Real Madrid and against Liverpool and Arsenal, having been labelled "almost a League Two striker" by Roy Keane after the latter. But there can be no doubt he is a flat-track bully and usually fills his boots against mid-table opposition. He will be confident of adding to his 21 league goals for the season in the final games against Wolves, Fulham, West Ham and Tottenham.

He has scored four goals in his last three matches against Wolves, including a hat-trick in last year's fixture at the Etihad Stadium. He has netted five times in three games versus Fulham, including getting a treble earlier this season. He has four against West Ham.

Having come out unscathed from their trip to Nottingham, City have a week to prepare for what should be a comfortable game at home to Wolves. Gary O'Neil's side were the first team to beat City this season, but things should be different this time.

There will be no complaints about the pitch, unlike against Forest, and they will have more than 50,000 fans to roar them on to victory at the Etihad Stadium, where City are unbeaten in all competitions since November 2022. They will also be able to count on Rodri, who missed the defeat at Molineux, as he has all of the team's losses this campaign.

Wolves are safe from relegation and with almost no hope of qualifying for Europe, making them ideal opponents. The same is true of Fulham, who City visit the following Saturday, and of West Ham, who they face on the final day of the season at the Etihad Stadium.

The only difficult game is away to Tottenham, who have been one of their most unforgiving opponents in the Guardiola era. City had not scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until January's FA Cup fourth-round win and had lost all of their previous games there. But things should also be different this time.

Spurs have won just two of their last six games, and by the final weeks of the season they are likely to have missed out on Champions League qualification to Aston Villa yet secured their place in the Europa League. And the last thing Tottenham fans will want is for their team to gift the league title to Arsenal.

Tottenham played Manchester United on the final day of the 1998-99 season knowing that victory would gift the title to Arsenal. To no-one's surprise, they ended up losing. The same scenario occurred in the latter stages of the 2002-03 campaign, when scores of Spurs fans openly celebrated Ruud van Nistelrooy finding the net. History is likely to repeat itself against City.

But even if Spurs are fully professional and pull out all the stops to try and take points off Guardiola's side, they will be up against a City side who have been in this position all too often and never panic.

In the 2018-19 campaign, when Liverpool were breathing down their necks, they won 14 games in a row to secure 98 points and win the league. In a similar scenario in the 2021-22 season, they remained unbeaten in their final 12 games to finish ahead of Jurgen Klopp's side. Last season, they went on a 12-game winning streak to chase down Arsenal. And now they are on an unbeaten run of 19 games in the Premier League.

Their record against top-five sides this season might be unconvincing, but City have been ruthless against everyone else. They have taken maximum points against each side placed sixth to 20th, with the exception of losing to Wolves and drawing twice with Chelsea and once with Crystal Palace.

Last year, Ruben Dias summed up City's fearlessness in the crunch stage of each season: “I guess all of us have a special feeling and taste when it comes to this stage. I think our team gets fed by these moments and I think that’s a very good characteristic to have in our space of work. When we arrive at this stage, we’re ready."

And that's why behind the huge sighs of relief after the North London derby, Arsenal would have sensed that, despite the huge improvements they have made and the mental strength they have shown, they are likely to end up with the same end result as last year: watching on as City lift yet another Premier League title.