the five criteria to decide between Manchester City and Arsenal in the event of a tie at the end of the season

The Premier League title race is currently in full swing in England. Five days before the end of this exciting season, Arsenal and Manchester City are tied on points and have the same goal difference. Here are the five criteria that would make it possible to decide between these two teams.

What if the Premier League was played in a final play-off on neutral ground? Football fans would certainly be excited by the idea but, first, four other criteria come into play and are only to be taken into account if Manchester City and Arsenal find themselves tied on points on May 24 after the 38th day.

And this scenario is becoming more and more concrete. Indeed, Manchester City has turned everything around in recent weeks. After their narrow victory on the Burnley pitch this Wednesday evening (1-0) thanks to a goal from Erling Haaland in the fifth minute, the Skyblues returned to the throne of the Premier League for the first time since August.

A jump-off for the title in the criteria

In a thread published on the social network The first criterion is very simple: goal difference. Currently, the two teams have a similar goal difference (+37). So let’s move on to the second criterion with the best attack. And, for the moment, it is Pep Guardiola’s men who have scored the most goals after 35 matches played this season in the Premier League (66 against 63).

If Arsenal manages to close this gap by the end of the season, the third criterion would be taken into account. And that’s where the problem lies for Mikel Arteta’s team. The points won in direct confrontation are for the Cityzens. The latter won the last match between the two teams last weekend. This precious victory changes the situation since the two teams parted with a parity score during their first clash last September.

But if the scenario had been different this Sunday at the Etihad Stadium and the Gunners and Cityzens had settled for a point, here are the last two criteria which would have been taken into account. The fourth is the number of goals scored away from home in direct confrontations. City scored one at the Emirates Stadium as did Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. Finally, the fifth and final criterion is, undoubtedly, the most exciting. The famous play-off for the title on neutral ground. This has simply never happened in the history of the Premier League since the creation of the competition in 1992. This season again, this scenario cannot happen because Manchester City has the advantage in number of points obtained during direct confrontations. However, the suspense still remains completely between now and the end of a pretty crazy Premier League season.