Man City know Arsenal Premier League reality after decisive Carabao Cup shift

If you are looking for a moment that the momentum shifted between Arsenal and Manchester City, it came at Wembley rather than the Etihad Stadium. In a March that had been wretched, Pep Guardiola's side weathered an early storm from a team gunning for a Quadruple and pulled off a decisive victory.

From team selections and form being all over the place, everything came together on one glorious afternoon for this new team to give them not only a trophy but the belief that they could mix it with the best in England and Europe. Their Champions League race was run and they had almost no hope in the Premier League this year, but it was viewed as the start of a new cycle.

Nobody at City saw what would unfold in the weeks after that coming, with Arsenal sent crashing out of the FA Cup and wobbling enough in the league to mean their trip to Manchester on Sunday could decide the title race. If it looked like March would wipe City out of contention for four trophies, by the end of this week they could be in pole position to land three.

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Victory over Arsenal at the Etihad was essential to that, and confirmed that Wembley was no fluke. City really are a match for the best team in England, having recently beaten Premier League champions Liverpool for the third time this season and demolished Club World Cup champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Winning the league is the hardest feat in football precisely because it is not just about these big occasions though. For all the joy (and points) that City got from winning, as Guardiola pointed out afterwards it is the Gunners who are still top and with the best goal difference.

City were the big winners on Sunday, yet Arsenal came away better than many expected. Instead of a demolition job that would invoke more calls of bottling, Arteta's side produced one of their best performances in months and could have got a result on another day.

That has given them confidence to regroup for their final five games and they know that they can still be top of the league at the end of this week with City in FA Cup action.

City have answered the question of whether they can beat the best but now have to show they can beat the rest. Dropped points against West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Spurs (twice) have hurt their league campaign and they may now have to summon a run of eight straight wins to go with the four they already have to pip Arsenal to the post.

It was a great victory on Sunday. The next five weeks will show if this new City team can already be added to the list of greats led by Guardiola at the Etihad over the last decade.