It’s Clear To Me Now That Manchester City Must Topple Arsenal

I like to think that I am both a professional at what I do and a sports fan still not too jaded to have lost my irrational passions. I'm lucky enough to work at Defector, where I am free to exercise both those sides of myself, which is why I can openly throw my bias in everyone's face by saying this, even if I can't believe it as I type it: I am absolutely rooting for Manchester City to come from behind and steal the Premier League title from Arsenal.

Trust me, as a renowned and beloved Liverpool fan, this hurts me more to write than it does you to read. My Pool Boys battled with City for years on either side of the COVID pandemic, and came second in all but one year of direct confrontation (the awkwardly interrupted 2019-20 season). Twice Liverpool finished an agonizing single point behind City in a title race, and that's a fate I never thought I'd wish on another club. Until now, that is. Due to the events of this past weekend, not only am I rooting for Pep Guardiola and his band of state-bought mercenaries, but I am doing so with few reservations, thanks both to the return of the best kind of Pepball and to the continued existence of Mikel Arteta's torturous brand of soccer.

Let's start with Arsenal, because I feel pretty confident in saying that Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth was the worst Gunners performance of the season.