Arsenal and Manchester City passed two more tests this weekend in the gauntlet that is the 2025-26 Premier League title race, and it's surprisingly clear that their biggest obstacles to historic seasons are each other.
Both Mikel Arteta's Gunners and Pep Guardiola's Citizens are alive for a quadruple, as odd reading as that might be during this cutthroat Premier League season where any week fixture could spell an upset. After all, the division's bottom-placed team has claimed points against a pair of top-five teams.
MORE — Viktor Gyokeres the key to Arsenal’s title hopes
Optimistic supporters of either side can easily make a case that their side can leave this season with four bits of silverware, as both teams are jockeying for the Premier League title after earning byes into the Champions League final 16. They're also set to square off in one domestic cup final and are within a win each of reaching the final 8 of another.
Of course, City and Arsenal aren't the only clubs alive for the honors. Here's a deeper dive into the coming big games for the Premier League's first- and second-place sides.
Quadruple watch hits busy March for Man City, Arsenal
Will both City and Arsenal be alive for all four honors when they match wits on March 22 at Wembley Stadium for the 2025-26 League Cup Final?
There's a lot to navigate in the next few weeks. With just three Premier League matches each between the timing of this post and the final, both teams will still be alive for the league title but two other elimination days will come and go before they kickoff at Wembley.
Arsenal will expect to win away at Mansfield Town in the FA Cup fifth round on March 7, the same day that City face a daunting trip to Newcastle United at St. James' Park in the same competition.
Both teams will then face navigable league hurdles in between Champions League Round of 16 legs. Arsenal will face Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, or Olympiacos in their tie — the German sides hold 2-0 leads after the first legs of their playoffs — while City will face Bodo/Glimt, Real Madrid, Benfica, or Inter Milan in theirs (Bodo/Glimt and Real have first-leg advantages).
Clearly, City have bigger hurdles between now and the 22nd. After that, though....
Who has the upper hand head-to-head?
Avoiding for now the topic of whether Arteta will go for it against Pep at the Etihad, he will be able to point to the last three seasons' improved head-to-head record in the series.
Guardiola's City won eight of their first nine meetings with Arteta's Arsenal, but City are winless in their last six against Arsenal (although there have been three draws and a fourth match tipped to the Gunners in penalty kicks).
Arsenal were perhaps a bit fortunate to get their 1-1 draw at home but they're deservedly on their perch at the moment. They have the best defensive set-up in the division, the top xGD at +29.2, and have produced the joint-most big chances in the league (85, Man City). They also are leading City, just, for the most successful team when it comes to winning the ball in an opponents' third.
They also have an emerging focal point in Viktor Gyokeres, whose 10 goals make him the first Gunner to register double-digit goal contributions this PL season (Haaland is first with 29 while Antoine Semenyo is fourth with 17).
How would a Best XI look between the sides? City would edge goalkeeper and center forward for sure, but the back line would be heavy in favor of Arsenal. If they played 10 times, we might expect City to just edge the series 3W-5D-2L.
Who has a better chance to win Champions League?
Arsenal's 8-0-0 league phase sent a message through Europe but Man City's 5W-1D-2L run to the last bye was impressive, too, as they faced the fourth-toughest draw according to opponents' UEFA coefficients (Arsenal's schedule was the sixth-easiest, but 24-of-24 points is what it is!).
Of course, this week's Champions League draw will give us a much better idea of what the Round of 16 has in store for City and Arsenal as the paths to Puskas Arena in Budapest for the May 30 final.
The odds say that Arsenal should draw either Dortmund or Leverkusen, top Bundesliga sides that are not having notably strong years but have fared well in the competiton.
If the first legs hold true, City will could get Bodo/Glimt and that would be considering a huge boon. but Inter Milan will hope to come back in the second leg, and then City could be looking at another match with Inter or Real Madrid. Benfica looms, too.
If Arsenal and Man City reach the UCL quarters, the task is again a bigger lift for City. Arsenal will meet Bournemouth at home between legs while City go away to Chelsea. The two sides then meet each other in a huge PL clash within days of that second leg. Who will have more rest?
The opponents between legs of the semifinals? Arsenal have Fulham while City have Everton.
Both sides have the talent and depth to win the competition, but Arsenal have — at the moment — a more favorable set of outside circumstances.
11 June 2023, Turkey, Istanbul: Soccer: Champions League, Manchester City - Inter Milan, knockout round, final, at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium. Manchester’s coach Pep Guardiola holds the trophy. Manchester wins with 1:0. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images)
dpa/picture alliance via Getty I
How many trophies can Arsenal win this season? Well, how many will they?
We've already detailed the Gunners' slight advantage over City in the UCL race, and they do have a measure of control in their long-held hopes to win the league.
Not only do Arsenal face an easier run of fixtures to finish the season by 4%, but their points advantage at the moment means City will have to beat Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium if all other results hold equal the rest of the way.
Is the house money, so to speak, still on Arsenal winning the Premier League? Most books still have the Gunners favored to hold onto first, while they are slight underdogs against City in the League Cup Final. Most books have only Bayern Munich in the ballpark of Arsenal for the UCL, too, and Arsenal are the leaders in most FA Cup winners' odds, too.
Will this year be a success for the Gunners if they win just one trophy? It would probably have to the Premier League or Champions League if so. But the FA Cup might be where we're seeing the Gunners emerge with hardware. Maybe with a PL double?
How many of four trophies will Manchester City win this season?
This may sound a bit wild to say, but might City be the true favorites to reach the Champions League Final? City's power in attack with a healthy Rodri controlling the midfield makes them a verifiable juggernaut over two legs. You may catch them over 90 minutes, but there's an inevitability over 180 (or 210).
The Premier League is going to ask a lot out of City, and they will need to beat the Gunners at home in a game that Arsenal can theoretically afford to draw.
Might City lay claim to the League Cup, come up short in the FA Cup, and claim either the Premier League or Champions League (especially if Josko Gvardiol comes back in time for the latter days of the season)?