{"id":596799,"date":"2023-01-12T05:34:26","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T11:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/manchester-north-london-derbies-add-intrigue-to-title-race\/"},"modified":"2023-01-12T05:34:26","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T11:34:26","slug":"manchester-north-london-derbies-add-intrigue-to-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/manchester-north-london-derbies-add-intrigue-to-title-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester, north London derbies add intrigue to title race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The stage has been set for a straight shootout between Arsenal and Manchester City for the English Premier League title and that scenario will become more of a reality if they win their respective derby matches this weekend.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be so sure on that happening, though.<\/p>\n

Indeed, by Sunday night, the number of teams potentially involved in the title race could easily have grown to five heading into the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

First up is the Manchester derby on Saturday, when City \u2014 looking increasingly unconvincing as the season progresses \u2014 faces a Manchester United team riding its best run of results in four years.<\/p>\n

Eight straight wins in all competitions. Nine straight wins at Old Trafford. United, no longer burdened with the baggage that came with having Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> in the squad, is brimming with confidence under Erik ten Hag and out to make amends for an embarrassing 6-3 loss to City<\/a> in early October.<\/p>\n

Closing the round of weekend games is the north London derby on Sunday when Arsenal \u2014 five points clear of second-placed City \u2014 heads to fifth-placed Tottenham, for whom in-form striker Harry Kane has another scoring record in his sights.<\/p>\n

Kane has netted four times in four games since returning from the World Cup and needs one goal to tie with the late Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham\u2019s leading scorer on 266. No player has scored more in the derby than Kane with his 14. In fact, no player has scored more goals against Arsenal than Kane since the Premier League started in 1992.<\/p>\n

If Arsenal and City win, they\u2019ll leave United and Tottenham in their wake, with only third-placed Newcastle \u2014 which hosts Fulham on Sunday \u2014 in touching distance.<\/p>\n

If they lose, then the top five would suddenly be separated by eight points.<\/p>\n

On current form, City is the team that should be most fearful.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back wins over Chelsea last week, in the league then the FA Cup, seemed to put City back on track, but a loss to Southampton<\/a> in the League Cup on Wednesday not only ended the team\u2019s hunt for a quadruple of trophies but raised questions about the strength in depth of Pep Guardiola\u2019s squad in certain areas.<\/p>\n

City has dropped points in two of its last four league games \u2014 both at home, in a 2-1 loss to Brentford and a 1-1 draw with Everton \u2014 and, currently, does not look like the machine that can go on a long winning run to take control of a title race, as Guardiola\u2019s teams have done in the past.<\/p>\n

Worryingly, a frail-looking City didn\u2019t even have a shot on target against Southampton, despite sending on Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland in the second half.<\/p>\n

City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said their self-belief took a hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis United side is probably stronger than ever, at least in the recent past,\u201d Gundogan said, \u201cso they are full of confidence, will play great football and we\u2019ll need a much better performance than (against Southampton).\u201d<\/p>\n

No Man United manager has reached 20 victories at the club quicker than Ten Hag \u2014 he has achieved it in 27 games \u2014 but the recent winning run should be put into context given the opponents United has faced, including two lower-league teams in the cups and four of the current bottom six in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

City represents a massive step up in quality, though fourth-placed United has already beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham at home this season.<\/p>\n

Indeed, that remains Arsenal\u2019s only loss in the league in what has been the fifth-best start to a Premier League after 17 games.<\/p>\n

Losing Gabriel Jesus to a knee injury<\/a> hasn\u2019t slowed Arsenal, especially with captain and playmaker Martin Odegaard in such great form. As it stands, Odegaard and Haaland \u2014 two Norwegians \u2014 might be leading the race to be the league player of the season.<\/p>\n

Tottenham has won the last three north London derbies played at its home stadium but did lose there against Aston Villa on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

Any dropped points by Arsenal would raise the stakes even further given its next game in the league is at home to United.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer and https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP_Sports<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n By STEVE DOUGLAS – AP Sports Writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stage has been set for a straight shootout between Arsenal and Manchester City for the English Premier League title and that scenario will become more of a reality if they win their respective derby matches this weekend. Don\u2019t be so sure on that happening, though. Indeed, by Sunday night, the number of teams potentially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534,26033,1319],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-596799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-financial","8":"category-manchester","9":"category-north"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}