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Manchester City have already been written out of the title race and that shouldn't bother them
Things can change very quickly in football. A few weeks ago the Arsenal handbrake was the phrase of the day after yet more costly caution from Mikel Arteta. Yet suddenly Liverpool are 'in transition' and the Gunners are top of the league.
Gary Neville has said on multiple occasions it will be a two-horse race for the Premier League title and spoke of Manchester City on Sunday as looking far from their best in a 1-0 win over Brentford. They certainly were in the second half, although there were still plenty of positives from the victory.
Just as there have been from the seven games that have been sandwiched by the September and October international breaks. From being six points off the top of the table after three games, the Blues have halved that deficit within their last four.
The leaders have changed in that time too. A flawless start from Arne Slot's Liverpool in terms of results - including victory over Arsenal - has been derailed by consecutive defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea, allowing the Gunners to sneak ahead after their late victory at Newcastle was followed up with a comfortable win over West Ham.
For City though, it doesn't matter who sits on top of the table. They will want to keep tabs on Arsenal and Liverpool because they are the two teams that finished above them last season, but Pep Guardiola will know not to pay too much attention to them.
Arsenal were intent on getting one over on City last season having been beaten to the last two Premier League titles, but while they enjoyed thumping them 5-1 at the Emirates and finishing above them they barely managed to put up any kind of challenge for the actual title. Arteta's team would have shaken hands at the beginning of the season for the guarantee of finishing above the champions, yet they ended it no closer to actually lifting silverware.
"It’s just seven games for the Premier League," Guardiola said on Sunday. "I would say three weeks ago Liverpool apparently won the Premier League and now they have not.
"It’s important to see the team better and better. Liverpool is an incredible team, like Arsenal, the question is to improve and improve, the way we play, the way we defend, will help us to be close to fight."
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City don't need to make the mistake of trying to chase down a particular team, they just need to make sure they are in the mix for as long as possible. While they are, players can come back from injury, others can improve their form, and the whole squad can grow in confidence knowing they are in with a shout of winning the league again.
There may come a time where attention has to turn to Merseyside or North London. City travel to Liverpool in February and host Arsenal in April in games that could be hugely important in deciding where the title ends up.
But there is no point even thinking about that now as City continue to focus on making improvements to their team from last season. If others want to be distracted by them, that can only help.
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