This season’s Premier League title contest is finely balanced and set up for a dramatic finish.
Arsenal, seeking their first championship in 22 years, have nine matches left and sit five points clear of Manchester City, who have claimed the league in six of the last eight seasons. City hold a game in hand and will host Arsenal in April, meaning if either side wins all remaining fixtures they will take the title.
Historically, being top late on is no guarantee: in 11 of the last 30 seasons the team leading after 28 matches did not go on to win the title. Arsenal themselves have failed to convert leads late in the campaign in both 2023 and 2024.
Which position carries more pressure — leading or chasing? “It’s better to be chased,” said Premier League record goalscorer Alan Shearer, who won the title with Blackburn in 1994–95 after missing out the year before. “When you are at the top of the league it’s in your hands and if you keep winning your games, as difficult as it is, the teams that are chasing you don’t have any answers.”
Shearer added that previous experience matters. In his earlier season at Blackburn they oscillated near the top and struggled because they had not been in that situation before, while an experienced Manchester United side exploited any slip-ups. The following season, having learned, they managed the race better.
Former WSL captain Steph Houghton, who won three league titles (two with Arsenal, one with City), echoed a similar view. “The pressure is massive in both situations, but it is nice pressure when you are trying to chase trophies and league titles,” she said. “My preference is always to be the hunted because you have got the points on the board and can take each game as it comes. Even though the pressure is there, it’s about performing under pressure.”
For Pep Guardiola’s City, finishing strongly is familiar territory. Two seasons ago they went unbeaten in their final 23 league matches, winning 19, to overhaul Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and finish two points ahead. City also have a habit of increasing pressure on rivals by playing earlier; in the last 15 occasions when City have played the day before Arsenal, Guardiola’s team have won 11 times, drawn three and lost once — a 2–1 reverse to Newcastle in November.
Martin Keown, a three-time Premier League winner with Arsenal, believes how the Gunners handle the strain will decide their season. “It’s normal when you want something so much, sometimes it can get the better of you,” he said. “They’ve not been in this situation where they’ve been in front too often. It’s almost about doing a reset here. If we were starting the season afresh, you’d just go after your opponent and finish the job off. You also have to trust your team-mates in the moment. You need to try to create a steely, calm determination.”
Steve Bruce, who won three Premier League titles with Manchester United in the 1990s, praised Arsenal’s consistency but stressed the demand for big players to step up. “Every game, no matter where you play and who you play, it becomes difficult, especially if you’re in a title race and especially if you’re Arsenal, because they haven’t won it in so long,” he said. “What you want at this time is the big players to perform. I was fortunate enough to play in a team where a certain Frenchman came to the fore — we always thought ‘Eric [Cantona] will get us out of trouble.’”
Joe Hart, a two-time Premier League winner with City, described the all-consuming nature of a late title push. “There will be a lot of questions, a lot of noise on Arsenal — that is life at the top. There is no point in worrying, you have to live in your own world,” he said. “They know what is coming in their rear-view mirror. Arsenal have been in this situation before though, they know what they need to do.”
Players and staff from both clubs are likely to find it difficult not to think about the title — even if publicly they stress focusing on one game at a time. “We always talked about the title race in the dressing room,” Bruce said. “You sometimes have to wait, because you don’t play at the same time. It drives you mad and you watch [your rivals]. There’s this nonsense that you don’t take any notice of it. Now is the real critical point, the big question mark is how you handle the pressure.”
Hart added that the race “takes over your life” and that competitors will be living in a bubble with little else on their minds. “You will never appreciate these days, but you can’t enjoy them more at the time because you are involved in them. You can’t think ‘these are the greatest days of my life’ because you have to be entirely focused. You wouldn’t get to that level, all you care about is perfection. You want to be the Premier League champion.”
