How Arsenal and Man City could be forced to play massive play-off to decide Premier League title

ARSENAL and Manchester City head into April with the race for the Premier League title set to come down to the final few games of the season.

The Gunners retained their eight-point lead at the top of the table with a 4-1 win over Leeds, responding to Manchester City's 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool earlier on Saturday.

However, Pep Guardiola's men still have a game in hand and face Arsenal at the end of this month.

Man City will feel they can chase down the Gunners - who have not claimed a league title in 19 years.

And there is even the possibility of a play-off match deciding who becomes champions.

Premier League rules dictate that the title is decided by points, then goal difference, and then goals scored.

And while Arsenal do have a buffer over Man City when it comes to their respective points tallies, they trail by two on goal difference and one on goals scored.

If all of these are even come the end of the campaign, head-to-head matches will come into play, followed by away goals scored in head-to-head games.

Therefore, a play-off will only be necessary if Arsenal score three goals in a win over Man City at the Etihad - and then still drop enough points to allow the defending champions to finish level on points.

So it is an unlikely series of events, but it remains a possible scenario come May 28.

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However, Arsenal do not look like losing several games between now and the end of the season.

Mikel Arteta's team have claimed seven league wins in a row since Man City beat them 3-1 at the Emirates in February.

Over that same period, City's only dropped points came immediately after the Arsenal victory when they were held to a 1-1 draw away at Nottingham Forest.