Title race over? Manchester City made a powerful statement by beating their main rivals Arsenal yesterday.

But those who now think only a points deduction can prevent City from winning a fifth EPL trophy in six years must think again.

The Gunners have a game in hand and go to The Etihad in April for what could be a decider.

They showed enough in this game to suggest they are genuine contenders.

And with Liverpool in transition, Chelsea all over the place and Manchester United not quite there, Arsenal looks the most likely candidate to start a new rivalry.

It wasn’t quite as comfortable as 3-1 suggests and the home side had the rare honour of more possession than City in the first half.

But few could argue with the result as City finally overhauled the Gunners to top the table for the first time this season.

The 115 charges the EPL announced last week are still to be negotiated, but on the field, City have turned the legal threat to their advantage.

And those who felt their campaign would falter while the club imploded could not have been more wrong.

Borrowing from Alex Ferguson’s playbook, Pep Guardiola is using a siege mentality to galvanise his squad. And it’s working.

Instead of deserting the ship in disgust at what City have been accused of, he has galvanised the troops and whipped up the fans.

In the two games since the scandal broke (and Pep’s subsequent rant), City have looked sharper, winning both by a 3-1 scoreline.

They’re still not at their best and nowhere near as fluid as in previous years, but they are getting the job done.

Their priority for this campaign is to finally bring Old Big Ears back to Manchester.

They’ve always found ways to get knocked out of the Champions League: some have been ingenious, some crackpot and some through rotten luck.

For Pep, it was the same with Barca at the end, then Bayern and now City.

Incredibly for a manager of his standing, he has only won the thing twice, both times with the Barcelona side that’s widely considered the greatest club team of all time.

This has inevitably led to talk of a curse.

So, perhaps one reason for not going flat-out in the domestic league is that he is saving something for the Champions League.

Against Arsenal, they just did enough to win, showing a ruthless streak when the Gunners made mistakes.

But it was not a commanding performance and there were still classic examples of Pep’s overthinking.

Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s best player and main threat cutting in from the right wing.

So how does Pep deal with him? By not selecting a left-back at all, but asking midfielder Bernardo Silva to mark the England star.

What might have looked like tactical suicide – he also left two centre-backs on the bench – was largely a success.

Silva stuck to Saka like a dog to a bone, kept chewing until he was belatedly booked, and then let others do the dirty work.

Saka was just crowded out and although he kept his composure to convert his penalty, he was unable to conjure a breakthrough.

But City still depended on uncharacteristic defensive mistakes for the goals which they eagerly gobbled up.

Haaland was a handful and had more touches than usual: ominous signs that something has clicked and City now know how to play with him.

It was not a great game, but it was great entertainment. Fearless, frantic and feisty.

The Emirates sounded like a proper football ground as Arsenal fans believed in and backed their young side.

You wouldn’t have known that City had won all of the last 11 clashes between the teams.

And Arsenal’s courage and confidence in keeping the champions on the back foot for so long augurs well for their future.

But with their former manager Unai Emery’s Aston Villa up next and a resurgent Leicester to follow, Arsenal cannot afford to falter.

Mikel Arteta’s men need at least four points from the two games or the current mini wobble could derail their season.

A year ago, you wouldn’t have put your child’s piggybank on them, but this season’s side has a maturity about it that stretched the Blues.

City get what they pay for. To fight their case in court, they’ve hired a lawyer, Lord Pannick, who charges RM54k an hour.

On the field, one goal was scored by a £100m man, Jack Grealish, another by Haaland earning £400k a week.

They can afford it. As one of the owner’s henchmen once quipped: “We’re richer than God.”

To beat them, Arsenal may need divine intervention, but to be the best among the rest, they’re already there.

Gabriel Jesus should be back for the run-in to the end of the season, so who knows?

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.