After 90 minutes of hoping for the most unlikely of results, the full-time whistle is blown, and common sense finally sets in.
“If we are being realistic, we shouldn’t be relying too much on Burnley,” says Ahmed, a lifelong Arsenal fan. He has just finished watching Manchester City’s tense 1-0 victory over Championship-bound Burnley at a pub in Finsbury Park, north London, on Wednesday evening.
“It was only 1-0, and we’ve just got to hope the other teams Man City face will do a better job.”
Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to City on Sunday has drastically changed the landscape of the Premier League title race.
For so long this season, Arsenal were flying high at the summit of the division and looked destined to end their 22-year wait for the title.
But after scuppering several opportunities to extend their lead and put the title out of their rival’s reach, they find themselves in a real scrap to reach the finish line.
Mikel Arteta and his players applaud the fans after Sunday’s defeat at Manchester City (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
To underline the difficulty of the task, they find themselves neck and neck at the front of the pack with Pep Guardiola’s shapeshifting, offensively-overpowering, possession-dominating, Erling Haaland-led juggernaut.
City. The same City who denied Arsenal title glory in 2023 and 2024.
Now more than ever, Arsenal fans are watching Manchester City’s matches desperately hoping they drop points.
For the first time since August, Manchester City are top of the Premier League.
Since then, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool have all topped the league.
Are Pep Guardiola’s side peaking at just the right time? pic.twitter.com/uiUME9gRQ5
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) April 22, 2026
Following the defeat at the Etihad, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claimed: “It’s a new league now, and we have five games to play. Everything is still to play for.”
City’s first game of this “new league” (in which they started three points behind Arsenal and play an extra game) saw them travel to Turf Moor to face 19th-place Burnley — a side who had lost 21 of 33 league games, had conceded a league-high 67 goals and scored just 34 (the second fewest in the division), and were on the brink of relegation.
Like all Arsenal fans, I would have loved to see Burnley defy the odds and derail Guardiola’s ever-accelerating City freight train. Ahmed and Alex, also Arsenal fans, are here hoping to see the same.
Haaland bursts our bubble almost immediately by scoring in the opening five minutes, and Burnley miss a few good first-half chances, with striker Zian Flemming particularly culpable.
“I’m pessimistic, but you never know,” Alex, a graphic designer from Hackney, says as City take a 1-0 lead into half-time. “Burnley looked decent at times in the first half, so we’ve just got to hope for the best.”
Ahmed, who is also from Hackney and works in e-commerce, echoes Alex’s sentiment.
“Burnley could do something,” he says. “They had a few chances in the first half. Two of them, they definitely should have scored. They can hopefully get something from this.”
Burnley’s Zian Flemming reacts to a first-half miss against Man City (Paul Ellis/Getty Images)
As the second half begins, we agree that if Burnley are still in the game towards the latter stages, there is a chance of an upset.
However, a second City goal feels inevitable. Every Rayan Cherki drive into the box, every Jeremy Doku shimmy and dart, every menacing moment of intent from Haaland brings about an instant raising of our heart rates.
To distract us from the anxiety of City’s constant attacks (the away side had 64 per cent possession in the second half and registered 15 shots), we began to rattle through several topics over beers and chicken wings.
We debate how Arsenal had let their lead at the top slip to just three points, discuss this summer’s World Cup and who will be England’s understudy to Harry Kane, and ponder whether Andoni Iraola could be the man to replace Liam Rosenior, who had been sacked as Chelsea head coach a few hours before the game.
We speak about our upbringings and our occupations, and Alex even explains how he defied his father’s strong influence to become an Arsenal fan.
“I grew up in north London,” he says. “All my friends were Gooners, but my dad is from Newcastle and is a Newcastle United fan.
“I was a Newcastle fan up until I was 10 years old, but I remember coming home from school one day and having that conversation with him.
“I said, ‘Dad, I’ve got something to tell you. I’m an Arsenal fan now’. He said, ‘If you want to support your local team, why don’t you support Leyton Orient?’.”
We also evaluate the effect a fourth consecutive second-place finish would have not only on the club but also on our enthusiasm for next season.
“If we don’t do it this year, the pain might be too much,” says Alex. “I would struggle to mentally prepare myself for next season. It would be such a challenge.
“We’ve been top since October. In my head, we’ve had it in the bag for months and months. I’m not sure I would be able to get excited for next season. I don’t know if I could, honestly.”
The Athletic‘s Nnamdi Onyeagwara with Ahmed and Alex (Nnamdi Onyeagwara/The Athletic)
Before we know it, we realise we have reached the latter stages of the game, with City boasting just a one-goal lead. Burnley head coach Scott Parker had done what he needed to do, sending on attackers Lyle Foster, Armando Broja, Marcus Edwards, and Mike Tresor in an attempt to grab the late equaliser that all watching Arsenal fans were desperate for. Balls were crossed into the box and Burnley tried to get up the pitch, winning a corner in the last minute of stoppage time. Up went goalkeeper Martin Dubravka for one last roll of the dice, but they could not find that elusive goal.
Burnley lost and were relegated to the Championship. City, who will be rueing the chance to make a significant addition to their goal difference, had to make do with the 1-0 win, three points, and a place at the top of the Premier League on goals scored.
We all agree that City will have tougher games in this “new league” and despite them sweeping Burnley aside with relative ease, 1-0 was a decent result for those with Arsenal in their hearts.
“I’ll absolutely take a 1-0,” says Alex. “Burnley were pretty bad, especially in the second half. The only positive is that we still have them to play at home. It really could come down to goal difference, so hopefully we can beat them and beat them by more than one goal.”
“Arsenal need to win all their games and score as many goals as they can,” said Ahmed. “Newcastle (on April 25) will potentially be our hardest game, even though they’ve not been playing well. We’ll see on Saturday.”
Before we say our goodbyes, I ask my newfound friends one final question: are Arsenal going to win the league?
“I hope so,” says Ahmed.
“My heart says yes, but my head says no,” says Alex.
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