He who is scared of glory shall lose it all! Erling the Viking sinks Arsenal's title ship

There's no such thing as luck - you either fight till the death and earn your silverware, or simply surrender!

The first one is Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, and the latter is Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.

One is about to achieve the impossible and clinch the Premier League title, and the other is about to lose what seemed like promised glory.

That's the line between winners and losers, which was drawn on Sunday afternoon at the Etihad, as the Cityzens defeated the Gunners 2-1 to get just three points behind the current Premier League leaders, with a game in hand.

Yes, this means not only is the title race very much alive again, but that Guardiola's men are on the verge of a miraculous comeback, with even better chances to clinch the title in the finishing line.

And the credits for that go to the entire team, led by incredible Erling Haaland, who not only scored the decisive, probably title-worth goal, but showed what a true leader represents.

We witnessed a frantic start to the game, as both teams made a couple of unexpected mistakes, at least at this level. The hosts were eager to make a statement as soon as possible, with Bernardo Silva hitting the post from close range, as the ball deflected off Gabriel. The VAR review showed that it did hit his arm, but it was tucked into his body, making it a regular move, not worth a penalty.

The chaos erupted around the 15th-minute mark as the Gunners' defence opened the door for Rayan Cherki's slalom run. The French midfielder danced his way past Gabriel, Hincapie and Rice with his magical left before charmingly finishing into the far corner, low and just out of David Raya's reach, to make it 1-0.

The Etihad exploded in ecstasy, but it lasted for only 30 seconds, as Gianluigi Donnarumma made an unforgivable mistake, a proper howler to allow Kai Havertz's equaliser while the majority of Manchester City fans were still celebrating the opener.

Gigio, whose mistake played a huge part in Italy's World Cup qualification tragedy in Bosnia recently, needed too much time to kick the ball outside of his area, which the German forward exploited to place his boot at the right place, and we got ourselves an abysmal stalemate, 1-1.

What on earth was Donnarumma doing there!? Probably not even he could provide us with a rational answer.

Against all odds, that absolute, undistilled madness and a two-way blitzkrieg lasted only a minute before transforming into a surprising calm until the end of the first half. There were some attempts on both ends, especially in front of Raya, but it stayed 1-1 on the scoreboard. Hincapie probably deserves a bit of praise for that, as he slid perfectly to stop Semenyo's powerful shot in the last moment.

The beginning of the second half was as good as it gets for neutral spectators, as City were quick out of the blocks, with Haaland and Doku being inches away from restoring the lead. On the other end, after almost 30 minutes without a single attempt, the visitors struck seriously, against the run of play and out of nowhere. Arteta's half-time sub, Gabriel Martinelli, who came on for Noni Madueke, stole the ball in midfield, left it to Martin Odegaard, whose gentle touch launched Havertz into a once-in-a-lifetime, one-on-one chance with Donnarumma. However, the Italian redeemed himself with an astonishing save.

A few moments later, it could have been another one for Arsenal, as Odegaard found unmarked Eze near the edge of the box, for a brilliant left-footed effort, which hit the post and went out.

And then, shaken, apparently dispirited Cityzens, with their backs to the wall, struck out of the (sky)blue.

Donnarumma threw it quite long to Nico O'Reilly, who linked up with Doku for a cross. Rodri's authority and name drew a couple of Arsenal defenders inside the box, but the ball went through to reach Haaland on the far post, as the Norwegian shrugged off Gabriel to nail it for 2-1.

Pep was ecstatic on the sidelines, and so was the entire crowd in sky blue, as the game's momentum shifted instantly, and the energy was blatantly on City's side. Gabriel and Haaland continued their battle, facing off on two more occasions, both vocally and physically. The shirt of City's striker was torn, but this image only made him more iconic, as it showed the intensity of the battle and the aura surrounding him, as he finally lived up to expectations to prove he's a world-class forward and a natural-born leader.

Something Kai Havertz - no hard feelings here - isn't and won't be. If he truly was, then that stoppage-time header would have gone in instead of flying a few inches above woodwork to seal this larger-than-life City's triumph and the kiss of death for Mikel Arteta and his army.

PREMIER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 33

Saturday

Brentford - Fulham 0-0

Leeds - Wolverhampton 3-0 (2-0)

/Justin 18, Okafor 20, Calvert-Lewin 90+5 pen/

Newcastle - Bournemouth 1-2 (0-1)

/Osula 68 - Tavernier 32, Truffert 85/

Tottenham - Brighton 2-2 (1-1)

/Porro 38, Simons 77 - Mitoma 45+3, Rutter 90+5/

Chelsea - Manchester United 0-1 (0-1)

/Cunha 43/

Sunday

Aston Villa - Sunderland 4-3 (2-1)

/Watkins 2, 36, Rogers 46, Abraham 90+3 - Rigg 9, Hume 86, Isidor 87/

Everton - Liverpool 1-2 (0-1)

/Beto 54 - Salah 29, Van Dijk 90+10/

Nottingham Forest - Burnley 4-1 (0-1)

/Gibbs-White 62, 69, 77, Jesus 90+8 - Flemming 45+2/

Manchester City - Arsenal 2-1 (1-1)

/Cherki 16, Haaland 65 - Havertz 18/

Monday

22.00: (2.40) Crystal Palace (3.35) West Ham (2.95)

***odds are subject to change***