Panic on the streets of London? Not yet...

As Mikel Arteta walked around consoling his crestfallen Arsenal players, a huge banner was unfurled before him at the Etihad Stadium: "Panic on the streets of London."

It dropped from the stands seconds after Manchester City secured a thrilling 2-1 victory against the Gunners, closing the gap on the long-time Premier League leaders to just three points, with a game in hand.

Arteta may not be familiar with the work of the great Manchester band The Smiths, but the message to Arsenal and their manager was ruthless—all their excellent work this season is now in danger of collapsing in this relentless test of nerve.

Arsenal still hold a marginally better goal difference (+37 to +36), but with Manchester City's game in hand against a doomed Burnley, that could quickly change. City's victory was by no means decisive in the title race, but it certainly felt like a defining moment.

For context, Arsenal are still top of the Premier League and have just reached the Champions League semi-finals for the second consecutive season. And for long periods of this captivating contest, Arsenal went toe-to-toe with Manchester City before Erling Haaland once again made the decisive contribution with the winning goal.

It was a resilient performance that answered accusations of Arsenal "bottling it" under pressure, but ultimately, it remains a defeat that maintains Manchester City's momentum and cranks up the pressure on North London.

If the home loss to Bournemouth seemed like a case of nerves, this defeat was not. Arsenal could easily have walked away with a crucial point, and few would have disputed such an outcome.

But they didn't. And at this stage of the season, that's all that matters. Manchester City are once again in that ominously familiar position of chasing down and wresting control from the team ahead of them, while Arsenal and Arteta feel the heat on their necks.

Now, Arteta and his team must battle familiar demons and scenarios to end the suspicion that he and Arsenal might just be the "nearly men."

As City close in, the prospect of Arteta finishing second in the Premier League for a fourth consecutive season becomes an increasingly painful possibility. Arsenal still have a chance for glory this season, both in England and in Europe's biggest competition, but they have reached a point where another campaign without ending their trophy drought, which dates back to 2020, will raise serious questions for Arteta and his players.

The Gunners simply must win a trophy this season to provide an answer. To let it all slip and end up empty-handed would be cruel, but that is the environment they are in. Arteta and Arsenal must silence the growing noise—the noise around them now and the noise that will follow them if they fail.

This is not to say questions should be asked about Arteta's future—not at all—and he could still win both the Premier League and the Champions League. But if things don't go his way, he will once again have to go back to the drawing board and find a way to win.

Arteta laughed off suggestions that he would now need to lift his players mentally, insisting that if he had to do that in their current situation, he "should stay at home."

"I'm very disappointed with the result because of the way we played," he said. "Now it's a new league, and we have a three-point lead with five games left. Everything is still possible.

I'm very disappointed we didn't get a result from this game and the way it happened, but not with the performance. The players felt we missed an opportunity, but we still have the advantage in the league for the next five games, so we carry on."

Arsenal did indeed miss their chances, especially in the final seconds of a nervy seven minutes of added time when Kai Havertz headed over an open goal. It was a moment of huge drama—a mix of relief for City and agony for the Gunners and their supporters. Arteta's body language said it all as he slumped to the ground.

Luck also deserted Arsenal when Eberechi Eze's second-half shot hit the inside of the post and somehow stayed out, and later Gabriel had similar misfortune with a header.

Arsenal have now lost two consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since December 2023, ending their five-game unbeaten run against Manchester City in the league—two wins and three draws.

Furthermore, the team has four losses in their last six matches across all competitions, with one win and one draw, a run that began with the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City in March. Before that, Arsenal had lost only three of their first 49 games of the season, winning 37 and drawing 9.

In contrast, Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games, winning seven and drawing three—their longest unbeaten run in the league this season.

Pep Guardiola's side has a history of perfectly timing their final push down the home stretch. This will only increase the anxiety for Arsenal and their fans. Arteta has rightly been accused of being overly conservative in his approach this season, but here he opted for a more positive lineup with Eze and Martin Ødegaard.

And yet, it was hardly a sign of confidence that he left the £64 million summer signing Viktor Gyökeres—the striker who was supposed to make the difference—out of the starting lineup for Arsenal's biggest game of the season so far.

Panic on the streets of London? Not yet.

But Arsenal's nerves are surely stretched to the limit after the chance to secure a result that could have decisively propelled them towards their first Premier League title since the 'Invincibles' 22 years ago painfully slipped through their fingers.