IF you didn’t think Manchester City were going to overhaul Arsenal in this title race, then you probably live a blissful life unaware of how football ticks these days.

City won the league last season and then bought the best striker in Europe for impossible money – the wages, if not the transfer fee.

There is no way for any team to really compete with that over a long season, and is the reason why even other teams are saddened that Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have run out of steam. Arsenal have clearly been the best of the rest this time and yet were still clattered in three matches by City’s relentless, cash-powered juggernaut.

The facts speak for themselves: City are heading for a fifth title in six years, only missing out in the Covid-wrecked season, and are in line for a simple treble.

We could be saying the same thing for several years to come and while the name of the team in second place each season may rotate, the monotonous dullness of the team bathing in cash winning every year will be in a word: Boring. It’s as synthetic as can be.

And yet there is no need to feel sorrow if you are an Arsenal fan, for this season has been an unexpected delight.

Arteta may still show his inexperience in how he manages games but it goes without saying that he has revived a team that was still lost from a protracted divorce from Arsene Wenger.

I cautioned against getting too excited at the start of the season and wrote “it’s only Crystal Palace” after the first matchday.

But there was already then a new buzz about the players and everything else connected with the club. They have played magnificent passing football and had they had a larger squad and City’s resources, who knows what may have happened.

No matter, the last second minute wins against Aston Villa and Bournemouth showed the heartbeat is healthy. Football is about moments, breathless thrilling moments, and this year we had more than our fair share to enjoy.

It’s funny because it was the 3-3 draw with Southampton which only reinforced how the energy has changed with a new conviction. The rescue of an unlikely point with two last-gasp strikes showed a spirit which wasn’t there before.

We’d have lost that game in the recent past but now, now we at least have our Arsenal back.