“You have to go game by game” -De Bruyne

Arsenal currently sit atop the Premier League table, but by just five points ahead of Manchester City. On Wednesday, they will play each other at Etihad Stadium in a high-stakes game that could determine the Premier League champions.

Just another game?

The players know that Wednesday’s match is an important one, thought they’ll attempt to treat it as any other.

“It makes no sense to get more hyped up for one game and not for another, because then it’s too much up and down,” said City’s Kevin De Bruyne. “You have to try and stay consistently on the same level. We know the importance for some games obviously is bigger than others, but the preparations remain the same.”

Of course, this is one of those “bigger” games and though they’ll try to play it cool, the stakes remain. City’s opponent has been at the top for the majority of the season. Arsenal is undefeated in 10 games, but only seven of them were wins, with three consecutive ties against Liverpool, West Ham United, and Southampton. That is what put them at risk of losing the lead in the first place (pun intended).

As for City, they have won eight of their last nine Premier League games, including the last six in a row, and they’ve beaten Arsenal twice this season already, with a 3-1 win in the Premier League and a 1-0 win in the FA Cup. That means that Arsenal would be the first to beat them since early February, if they’re able to pull it off.

“The mentality, the desire, the hard work every day, trying to have this feeling here, this hunger that you need to achieve these trophies, and try to renew this every day of your life until the end of the season,” said City’s Rodrigo.

For Arsenal, this won’t be an easy task. They have not won a game against Manchester City since 2015. And they really need to get a win. If they win, they’ll move eight points clear of City at the top and have a much better and secure chance of winning the title. At that point, even if City won their next two games, it wouldn’t be enough to surpass Arsenal as they’d be two points up.

If the game ends in a tie, however, that would benefit City more than it would benefit Arsenal. At that point, if City won the next two, they’d jump ahead of Arsenal.

And of course, if City gets the win, Arsenal would still be at the top, but just by two points, and City could take the lead with a win over Fulham on Sunday.