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When Arsenal and Manchester City meet, don’t forget that titles are not won head-to-head and that being the second most productive team in the most productive league in the world does not mean failure.
By Rory Smith
Most likely, the fact won’t show up much in media coverage. It will not be a focal point of construction. Commentators may mention it in passing, but its tone will imply that hyperbole is not exaggerated. And if Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta try to point out that before Manchester City face Arsenal on Sunday, it will be noticed as a game strategy, a deflection or blatant sophistry.
Still, it’s true: City’s encounter with Arsenal may not be the make-or-break moment in the race for the Premier League’s most compelling name in a decade. This is a match of unsettling importance and abundant weight, of course, a possibility for a team. triumph over a giant, imminent obstacle. But that’s not a conclusion.
Math, facts, and raw numbers back this up. At the end of the week, a maximum of four things will separate the teams: a big gap, to be sure, but an insurmountable lead. There is a strong possibility that eventually the whistle blows at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday night, neither of which is the best in the league.
Of course, it works for everyone to pretend otherwise, to offer this as a kind of decisive confrontation. It’s not just because football, as long established, is now just one arm of the entertainment industry and there’s more content in the shattering crescendo of a name-fighting match than in the choppy, jarring speed of the season. It’s also because one of the wonderful myths of football is that champions are crowned in a head-to-head clash.
Of course, that’s not how it works. A championship is a compliment for withstanding the slow speed of a tough crusade over all your rivals. Being able to triumph over the greatest of them on any given day is a similar skill, but the correlation isn’t perfect. Arsenal can beat City but not win the league, or vice versa. (Liverpool, the third-place contender, hasn’t beaten either club this season. )There are many tactics to be the “best” team in a league.
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