Arsenal's Premier League title destiny remains out of their hands despite a fourth consecutive win on Saturday. The Gunners headed into the clash against Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium top of the table where a victory would take them four points clear of reigning champions Manchester City.

Even though the pressure was on, Mikel Arteta's side delivered with Bukayo Saka calming nerves in the first half as his penalty put the hosts in front. Leandro Trossard then doubled the lead mid-way through the second half before Declan Rice added a third deep into stoppage time.

"I thought that we started the game, probably the best first half we’ve played all season," Arteta admitted when asked for his thoughts on the game. "We were unbelievable, everything, flowing, super composed on the ball, really aggressive without the ball. We generated so many chances, we could have gone three, four, five [up] easily and we didn't. We scored one.

"Credit to Bournemouth, they changed a few things and created some issues. The game became a little bit more open, something we wanted to avoid. Within that game we resolved certain situations in the right way and we were very efficient in front of goal to score the goals and maintain another clean sheet."

As Arteta states, Arsenal's defensive improvements have been clear with David Raya, who had already won the golden glove, obtaining his 15th Premier League clean sheet of the season. While Arsenal have responded superbly to last month's defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, it could all be in vein with Man City's advantage still clear.

The Gunners have just two games remaining this season, away to Manchester United and at home to Everton, while City have three fixtures remaining. Away trips to Fulham and Tottenham follow Saturday's home clash against Wolves before their season reaches its conclusion at Etihad Stadium with the visit of West Ham.

Arsenal having the current points advantage is great but ultimately, even if they win their final two games, Man City can outscore their maximum tally. The actual game in hand for Pep Guardiola's side, ironically for Arsenal, is against Spurs with that clash from earlier in the season having to be postponed and rearranged because of City's FA Cup progress.

The Gunners headed to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend and came out of that North London Derby with a 3-2 victory. As a result, Man City now have to repeat that achievement and in turn do something they have never done before.

From four attempts, City are yet to avoid defeat in league action away to Spurs, in fact they are yet to even score at the new stadium. However, that curse was somewhat broken earlier this year in the FA Cup with City winning 1-0 courtesy of a late Nathan Ake goal.

As has been the case of the last few title-winning season, Man City enter another gear as the final few months of the campaign and that has been the case again with Guardiola not watching his side lose in the league since early December.

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