Man City fixtures compared to Arsenal as both teams told where points could be dropped

Manchester City and Arsenal are battling it out for the Premier League title, with Pep Guardiola's side five points adrift of the Gunners in the table – but it's now in the hands of City

Paul Merson has hinted that he would prefer Manchester City's remaining Premier League matches compared to Arsenal's as the title race took another huge twist.

The gap between second-place City and leaders Arsenal extended to five points on Wednesday, but it could have been so much worse for Pep Guardiola's side. Indeed, the Gunners were held to a 2-2 draw at bottom club Wolves, despite racing into a two-goal lead through from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie.

But Wolves produced a stunning fightback, with Hugo Bueno halving the deficit before Tom Edozie scored a dramatic 94th-minute leveller to prevent the Gunners from picking up a vital win in the title race.

That result has no doubt strengthened City's position in the title picture, with Guardiola's men boasting a game in hand and still having to face the Gunners at home before the end of the season.

Now, when looking at the remaining fixtures, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has dissected the title race and believes the next two matches - for both - feel pivotal. City take on Newcastle at home and travel to Leeds, while Arsenal make the trip to Tottenham and host Chelsea.

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"Football is about timings, you play teams at certain times in the league," Merson told Sky Sports. "You can look down at West Ham in 18th, but that might be their game where they're fighting for survival or they might have won five on the trot and are in the middle, safe and on holiday. You just don't know with the timings of the games.

"Aston Villa could already be in the top four, cemented, might be in the Europa [League] final and they're done, so that game [for Manchester City] doesn't look as hard as it does on paper.

"So, it's difficult. I always look at the next two; Arsenal have got Chelsea and Tottenham, they are two difficult games, more so than Newcastle and Leeds [for City]. No disrespect but you would take Newcastle and Leeds over Spurs and Chelsea to start with."

Ex-Leicester and Wolves defender Conor Coady then chipped in with his assessment and is more confident that City are going to have a stronger end to the season, due to past experiences.

"I think Merse is exactly right and we're going to go on to another side in a minute but the big thing I always go off is past experiences, how teams finish, we know how Manchester City and we know how Pep Guardiola finishes," the Charlton defender added. "He is a monster at finishing strong.

"They will be looking at this (points won in final 12 matches) and think this is a bit of us, so we look at how they finish seasons and it's unbelievable."

Arsenal have Tottenham (A), Chelsea (H), Brighton (A), Everton (H), Bournemouth (H), Manchester City (A), Newcastle (H), Fulham (H), West Ham (A), Burnley (H) and Crystal Palace (A) remaining.

As for City, they have Newcastle (H), Leeds (A), Nottingham Forest (H), West Ham (A), Chelsea (A), Arsenal (H), Burnley (A), Everton (A), Brentford (H), Bournemouth (A), Aston Villa (H) and Crystal Palace (H) to go.