John Terry believes we will find out imminently if Arsenal have the stomach for a Premier League title race following Manchester City’s dramatic comeback against Liverpool.
The Gunners looked set to take a nine-point lead into the next round of fixtures after Dominik Szoboszlai blasted Arne Slot’s side in front with a blistering second half free-kick.
Arsenal wouldn’t even have minded too much when, against the run of play, Bernardo Silva equalised with seven minutes remaining but Erling Haaland’s injury-time penalty dramatically changed the dynamic of the title race.
With momentum in their favour and a renewed sense of hope, City will almost certainly cut the gap to three points when they host Fulham on Wednesday, 24 hours before the Gunners face a tricky game at in-form Brentford.
‘Wow the title race is officially on,’ said former Chelsea skipper Terry with a healthy degree of relish. ‘What a comeback that was, 78 minutes looking dead and buried in the game.
‘Trust me, I’ve been there many times at Chelsea with Man United breathing down our necks. You look at the fixtures ahead, who they’re playing, are they playing early? Do they close the gap on us?
‘As an Arsenal player you’re sitting there yesterday going okay, we’ll take a draw here worst case, let Man City pick up a draw with Bernardo Silva’s late goal. Then, all of a sudden, it’s reduced to six points.
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‘Also a big thing, Man City play on Wednesday night. The race could be reduced to three points before Arsenal go away and play Brentford on Thursday night.
‘Great opportunity for Man Ciyy to go and close the gap and put a bit of pressure on.’
‘The title race is on with the big man Haaland stepping up with all the pressure on his shoulders delivering a great penalty.
‘Exciting times in the Premier League, let’s see what Arsenal are made of.’
While City now appear intent on making a fist of it, the precarious nature of their situation was summed up by Silva who confessed he was ready to concede defeat after going behind at Anfield.
The City skipper told Sky Sports: ‘For the distance that we have to Arsenal, coming here – it is the toughest place in the Premier League by far – but we needed to go for another goal.
‘When I scored, I was happy but we needed another and Erling got it. I feel the whole team knew before the game if we lost it then the title race was probably over. We felt like we needed to win.
‘The hope is there and we are going to fight until the end. We need to keep doing our job that we haven’t lately.’
It was only City’s second win in seven games and manager Pep Guardiola was not getting carried away.
Guardiola said: ‘Six points is better than nine, but it’s still a lot considering how strong Arsenal are in all departments.
‘But 13 games is a lot in the Premier League. The FA Cup is coming, the final of the Carabao Cup, the Champions League is here. There are many games, injuries, every team playing for something.
‘The last 10 games, from my experience, are not a drama but so difficult. The important thing is to be there and improve.’
