Arsenal remain Premier League title favourites over Manchester City and Liverpool after the latest set of results, according to OPTA analytics. The Gunners saw their clean sheet record and wining streak come to a brutal end in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday evening.
The onus was then on Man City or Liverpool to take advantage with the two teams facing off at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Arne Slot's side were off the back of consecutive clean sheets in wins over Real Madrid and Aston Villa, but they were comfortably beaten by City.
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Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku were all on target in a dominant win for the hosts. The second half could have played out differently had Virgil van Dijk's header was not disallowed as Andy Robertson, who was in an offside position, was deemed to have impacted Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Just minutes later, Gonzalez doubled City's lead with Van Dijk's attempted block wrong-footing Giorgi Mamardashvili, who had saved a Haaland penalty earlier in the half.
The City striker responded well to that setback though as he headed past the Liverpool goalkeeper 16 minutes later. Doku, who was awarded player of the match, netted City's third with a superb curling effort from distance.
Pep Guardiola's side claiming all three points took them up to second and just four away from leaders Arsenal after their stalemate at the Stadium of Light. It was a real statement of intent from City after their disappointing 2024/25 campaign.
Arsenal remain the favourites, though, and that has been reflected by OPTA as they have calculated Mikel Arteta's side will finish on expected points tally of 80.13. City come next but are actually quite far behind with 73.5 deemed to be their possible final total.
Champions Liverpool follow in third on 68.23 with Chelsea on 63.34 and Aston Villa in the final Champions League qualification place on 60.76. Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Brighton, Bournemouth and Tottenham complete the expected top ten.
City's title credentials will be tested after the November international break with trips to Newcastle United, Fulham and Crystal Palace on the horizon.They will also host Leeds United, Sunderland and West Ham United before Christmas.
And the same could be said for Arsenal as they take on Tottenham, Chelsea and Brentford in three consecutive London derbies before then travelling to face Villa.
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