Arsenal Announce Themselves as Title Favourites with Win over Manchester City

It’s a cliche, but Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Manchester City felt like it was worth more than three points. People regularly describe top-of-the-table clashes as "six-pointers," but truth be told, this felt even bigger than that.

This victory had a symbolic value to Arsenal, as it confirmed their status as convincing title challengers. Having vanquished City, the Gunners are arguably now the favourites to lift the Premier League.

It is, of course, too early for any sweeping conclusions about the implications of this result. The Gunners are only four points clear of City and still trail surprise leaders Leicester. However, we should not underestimate the importance of this win.

Had Arsenal failed to vanquish Manuel Pellegrini’s side, people would have raised familiar doubts about their ability to get the job done when it comes to the crunch. Instead, the Gunners showed a newfound maturity to get over the line.

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Afterward, Arsene Wenger was quick to downplay talk of the title. He told Arsenal.com:

"

It is too early to say we can win the league but it strengthens our belief. You come out and realise you have earned your right to win these games. We have to be ready to fight like that in every single game and you do that quite [often]. It is quite interesting on my side there is real life in the team, real togetherness and real solidarity, so let’s take care of that.

"

Even though Wenger is wary of declaring his team potential champions, he cannot help but acknowledge some of the positive signs emanating from his team.

What’s most impressive is that Arsenal achieved this result without several key players. Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck have missed the entire season thus far, but the Gunners are also having to do without the influential trio of Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez.

Trophy-winning sides tend to require telling contributions from fringe members of the squad, and the likes of Mathieu Flamini and Joel Campbell are certainly stepping up to plate. The meteoric rise of Campbell is particularly startling—it’s almost reminiscent of Coquelin’s own emergence last season.

Of course, every side with title-winning aspirations needs a star who can propel them to greater heights. Previous Arsenal sides had the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp to act as their inspirations.

In Mesut Ozil, Arsenal have just such a player. The German has finally acclimatised to the Premier League and is now in the form of his life. He made two assists against City to take his tally for the season to 15, and he is well on course to break the Premier League record of 20 in a single campaign.

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Wenger will know that it is too soon to discount any of Arsenal’s title rivals. City have plenty of time to recover, and it’s possible that the January transfer window could leave Leicester with the depth required to sustain their assault. Even Manchester United are not yet out of touching distance.

However, Arsenal will wake up this morning with something no other side can match: belief. The Gunners have an understandable conviction that this is their year. There are many hurdles to overcome, starting with a difficult trip to Southampton on Boxing Day. However, there is a clear sense of direction for Wenger’s men now. The Gunners have the trophy firmly in their sights.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.