Manchester City are trailing Arsenal by five points in the Premier League, but one statistic shows that Pep Guardiola knows how to get his team firing when it matters.
The Premier League has a proper title race this season, with only a 10-point gap separating first and third place. It is important to note that Aston Villa have a game in hand on Arsenal, so the difference could be reduced to seven points.
It would seem the Gunners are still favourites to end the season at the top of the table, but history would favour Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola has won title after title since switching Bayern for City and his experience has already been key in the past to the eight-time champions finishing above Arsenal.
Premier League stat shows Pep Guardiola’s strength over Mikel Arteta
There have been many occasions in recent years where Arsenal have remained top of the Premier League for a considerable amount of the season. However, Mikel Arteta is yet to win a league title with his current team.
This is despite the fact that since becoming Arsenal manager, Arteta has spent more days at the top of the Premier League table than Guardiola.
Since becoming Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has spent more days at the top of the Premier League than Pep Guardiola, but the Man City manager has 4 league titles in that time 🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/VvsUzKbIz7
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 26, 2026
Strangely enough, the Man City manager has won the league four times in that time period, but Arteta’s team always seem to run out of steam when the finish line approaches.
Therefore, this could indicate that Guardiola is likely to triumph again this season, even after all the months Arsenal have spent as the league leaders.
Man City are in better form than Arsenal
Manchester City have won three Premier League matches in a row, whereas Arsenal have dropped points two times in their past three games.
As a result, the gap between the two teams has decreased and based on past seasons, this could continue until City surpass Arsenal at the top of the league.
Arteta’s men have been strong this season, but there seems to be a pattern each year which always results in them never quite having what it takes to emerge triumphant.
