Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal have all won their respective games to kick off the 2025/2026 Premier League campaign.
With all three sides expected to compete for the title this campaign, Pep Guardiola would have been delighted that his City team were the most convincing out of the three teams as they beat Wolves 4-0 on Saturday.
Arsenal, on the other hand, narrowly defeated Manchester United 1-0 while Liverpool were in need of late goals from Federico Chiesa to get over the line against AFC Bournemouth in their 4-2 victory.
With Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki impressing against Wolves, City’s new signings seem to have hit the ground running better in comparison to their title rivals as well.
Roy Keane says Arsenal tend not to go for the second goal unlike Man City
Based on Arsenal and Liverpool’s respective displays, Manchester City should back themselves to potentially go all the way in the title race this campaign.
With Pep Guardiola being motivated about the new season, he would be relishing the challenge after witnessing his side dismantling Wolves on Saturday.
Despite Arsenal’s win against Manchester United, Roy Keane claimed on Sky Sports that the Gunners often do not go for the second goal unlike Manchester City and even Liverpool — classing their habit as a “worry”: “You never thought United had three goals in them and even Arsenal getting the one goal. I think that’s a worry when I see what Arsenal are doing. You wonder why Arsenal are coming up short, they’re still happy enough to kind of sit in at 1-0 and you go, is that the reason why you drew so many games last year?’
“If you’re comparing them to a Man City or a Liverpool, they’re always thinking, ‘Let’s go and get the second goal.’ Even on a bad day with Liverpool, you’ll think they’ll score two or three goals.”
Arsenal and Man City’s goal records compared over the past three seasons
Ultimately, goals win games and while Mikel Arteta’s defence is rock-solid, they have yet to win the title under his guidance.
The stats show why they have fallen short in previous title races.
| SEASON | MAN CITY: GOALS SCORED | ARSENAL: GOALS SCORED |
| 2022/2023 | 94 | 88 |
| 2023/2024 | 96 | 91 |
| 2024/2025 | 72 | 86 |
Aside from last season where Manchester City finished below Arsenal in the league table, Pep Guardiola’s side have outscored the North London side in the two campaigns before — which perhaps proves Roy Keane right.
With Erling Haaland starting the season on fire aside from the likes of Reijnders and Cherki, City could end up topping the goalscoring charts at the end of the campaign.
