Manchester, May 11 (IANS) Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will be making the trip to Old Trafford on Sunday to face Manchester United in their penultimate game of the season. It is that time of the season where any points dropped would result in the Gunners conceding the league to Manchester City.

The stakes have never been higher for the North London side who are hoping to lift their first league title in 20 years. The Gunners rose back to the top of the premier league in the 2022/23 season and saw their title run falter against one of the best sides in English football history, Manchester City who are hoping to become the first team in history to win four consecutive Premier League titles.

Arsenal have only won one of their last 16 trips to Old Trafford, a poor record which also includes ten defeats. Manchester United have been struggling through the entirety of the season and will be giving their all against Mikel Arteta’s side as they still hope to qualify for the Europa Conference League.

The importance of this match cannot be emphasized enough as Manchester City will have already played their game against Fulham and are likely to have reached the top of the table by the time the match commences. The ‘Cityzens’ also travel to the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium on Wednesday to play their game in hand against the Spurs, a side that they have certainly struggled against in recent times. If both sides were to win all their remaining games, it will be the blue side of Manchester who will lift the ultimate prize at the end of the season.

"We are on the journey to try to catch them and be better than them, which is the aim and what we have to do. It’s an inspiration to have this level of opposition and it makes you better if someone challenges you to go further and further. The history of City, they were winning trophies and winning the Premier League. They’ve been on an unbelievable journey over the last 10 to 15 years, but we want to change that. We’re trying to do everything that we can to improve and get better and better," said Mikel Arteta in the pre game press conference when asked about their fellow title race rivals.