As much as the memory of past comebacks from Manchester City will continue to occupy Arsenal’s every waking thought the temptation to declare that the title race is all but over is becoming increasingly impossible to resist.

Pep Guardiola must know there will be no breathless sprint for the finish if his side continue to play with such a lack of identity, cohesion and belief. Putting it bluntly, this is not the City of old. This was a careless, unfocused performance and it left them nine points below Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand. City did not raise the tempo until it was too late and although they limited West Ham to a solitary shot the problem is that it was the one that allowed Konstantinos Mavropanos to earn the point that lifted Nuno Espírito Santo’s dogged side out of the bottom three before Nottingham Forest host Fulham on Sunday.

As much as the memory of past comebacks from Manchester City will continue to occupy Arsenal’s every waking thought the temptation to declare that the title race is all but over is becoming increasingly impossible to resist.

Pep Guardiola must know there will be no breathless sprint for the finish if his side continue to play with such a lack of identity, cohesion and belief. Putting it bluntly, this is not the City of old. This was a careless, unfocused performance and it left them nine points below Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand. City did not raise the tempo until it was too late and although they limited West Ham to a solitary shot the problem is that it was the one that allowed Konstantinos Mavropanos to earn the point that lifted Nuno Espírito Santo’s dogged side out of the bottom three before Nottingham Forest host Fulham on Sunday.

As much as the memory of past comebacks from Manchester City will continue to occupy Arsenal’s every waking thought the temptation to declare that the title race is all but over is becoming increasingly impossible to resist.

Pep Guardiola must know there will be no breathless sprint for the finish if his side continue to play with such a lack of identity, cohesion and belief. Putting it bluntly, this is not the City of old. This was a careless, unfocused performance and it left them nine points below Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand. City did not raise the tempo until it was too late and although they limited West Ham to a solitary shot the problem is that it was the one that allowed Konstantinos Mavropanos to earn the point that lifted Nuno Espírito Santo’s dogged side out of the bottom three before Nottingham Forest host Fulham on Sunday.