Mikel Arteta, it's happening again! Winners and losers as Arsenal close in on another Premier League title choke after Erling Haaland and Man City show champion spirit

Many believed that signing Viktor Gyokeres would provide the lift Arsenal required to finally end their 22-year wait for the Premier League title. But on Sunday, the Sweden international spent most of the biggest game of the season sitting on the bench, all while his fellow Scandinavian showed him how it is done.

Haaland has become the main actor on the pitch in this sizzling rivalry, and so it felt inevitable that it should be he who had the final say. He was raring to go from the first minute, when he chased down David Raya and almost scored, and stayed in the thick of the action, sparking danger in the build-up to Cherki hitting the post before then firing against the woodwork himself.

When Haaland sent a shot into the South Stand in the first half it looked like this might not be his day, but this being Haaland against Arsenal, he kept plugging away and eventually made the Gunners pay for missing their own chances.

In eight matches against Arteta's side, Haaland has scored six goals and contributed two assists. When you consider that Arseal have been City's greatest competitors during the Norwegian's time at the club, it is the perfect riposte to the accusation that he goes missing in the biggest games.

As Haaland's sworn enemy, Gabriel Magalhaes had a simple, albeit daunting task, on Sunday: Stop the Norwegian from scoring. And despite another engrossing battle with the City No.9, Gabriel ultimately failed, as the Brazil international allowed Haaland to get across him and pounce on a loose ball in the box.

It could have been even worse for the defender, whose frustration at letting Haaland get the better of him almost led to him getting sent off. He was lucky that his opponent is not prone to playacting and did not make more of him connecting with his head as they squared up against each other late on.

Gabriel is one of the main reasons why Arsenal have been so strong over the last few seasons, but just like his manager and several of his team-mates, he let himself down at the pivotal moment.

Cherki has not just come good when it matters most, he has pulled out some truly incredible pieces of play during City's recent resurgence. His mesmeric goal on Sunday was, however, the best of the lot.

Cherki channelled prime Lionel Messi with his artistic dribble to take out four Arsenal defenders before producing an unstoppable finish into the bottom corner. Guardiola, who recently said he doesn't want Cherki to defend like the rest of his team and wants him to be free to "express himself", admitted that City's gameplan centred around finding Cherki as much as they could. And every time the former Lyon playmaker got hold of the ball, every blue in the Etihad Stadium rose to their feet in anticipation.

If City do end up finishing the job and winning the title, then Cherki should be named Player of the Season. And let's not forget that he cost the same amount of money as Manchester United flop Joshua Zirkzee...

Last week, Arteta said he was "on fire". Now, it’s Arsenal’s season that has gone up in flames. And if the Gunners end up without a trophy come the end of the campaign, then the coach's gimmicks, such as lighting an actual fire at their training ground or playing AI-generated videos of his players during training sessions, will haunt him forever.

After all the hard work in getting Arsenal into a position to fight for the quadruple in March, Arteta has overseen just one win in six matches while losing four times. The four trophies they were gunning for have turned into two, and the one they crave the most, a first Premier League title since their 'Invincibles' season in 2004, is fading fast.

Unlike in 2024, when Rodri questioned Arsenal's tactics of playing for a draw following their 0-0 stalemate at the Etihad, Arteta could not be accused of playing it safe against City. He insisted that the result came down to the difference in the two sides' finishing in the boxes, but having been the top team in Europe just a couple of months ago, his side now look like they are running on fumes and limping towards the line. And he will be the one to blame.

Just when his powers appeared to be waning, Guardiola has staged the latest of countless City resurgences. The coach had a difficult start to 2026, losing to Manchester United and then bowing out of the Champions League to eternal rivals Real Madrid in between dropping silly points against relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest and West Ham. He has responded, however, by beating Arsenal twice while thrashing Liverpool and Chelsea. And instead of what could be his final season in the City dugout petering out, Guardiola's side are now on the cusp of claiming a domestic treble.

The Catalan coach had no great tactical surprise for this game as he has already found his best team; a potent front three of the tricky Jeremy Doku, the formidable power and speed of Antoine Semenyo and the insatiable scoring hunger of Haaland, backed up by a double-pivot of Bernardo Silva and Rodri, with Cherki weaving his magic in between.

That City won this game should not have been surprising to anyone with knowledge of how the team have sprung into life at this point of the season on their legendary coach's watch. City have won 31 out of 39 Premier League matches in April during Guardiola's decade at the club, drawing five times and suffering just three defeats, their last coming against Leeds United all the way back in 2021.

Hardcore City fan Tal Rehman - whose son is named after Yaya Toure - went viral at Stamford Bridge for waving about an Arsenal bottle in the stands, and an entrepreneurial supporter was seen selling copycat bottles outside the Etihad on Sunday. Thus, with everyone laughing at the Gunners' inability to hold their nerve when it matters, they went and proved their critics right.

Being 'bottlers' is a tag Arsenal fans utterly despise, largely because it is true. While City come into their own in April, earning an average of 2.5 points per game in the month under Guardiola, Arsenal seem to melt in the spring heat. They have taken an average of 1.5 points per game in April since Arteta has been manager, with City gleefully cashing in on their mistakes.

They blew an eight-point lead in the title race in 2022-23, with their season completely unravelling in April. The following season, having ground out a 0-0 draw at City, they conspired to shoot themselves in the foot by losing at home to Aston Villa. This year, they began the month with their shock FA Cup defeat at Southampton, then lost at home to Bournemouth and have now been defeated in the most important game of the title race. All is not lost, but it will take an almighty recovery in belief from here.