Manchester City and Arsenal meet at the Etihad this afternoon in what is being billed as a Premier League title race decider.

Mikel Arteta started a fire at the training ground this week but if his Arsenal team fall at the Etihad tomorrow their season could go down in flames.

Manchester City have the momentum, the home advantage and the title-winning know-how. They’ve also seemingly clicked into gear at just the right time.

Pep Guardiola oozed calm when he faced the media on Friday afternoon. The City boss, dressed in crisp white club attire, spoke at length on the match, the title race and how City must play the game and not the occasion.

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He referenced Arsenal’s 22-year wait for the title more than once, openly offered up an injury update on Nico O’Reilly when he often opts for caution, and seemed completely at ease with what is in front of him.

There is a sense at City that they have found their rhythm, that the team is settled and in sync, and that they are in the best possible place heading into the final few weeks of an absorbing campaign.

Few gave City a chance of winning the league this year. Last season was way below par and they lost two of their first three this term. Liverpool set the early pace but quickly fell away and ever since it’s looked Arsenal’s to lose. It still is.

But the Gunners have looked frayed and frazzled in recent weeks, suffering a Carabao Cup final reverse to City and then exiting the FA Cup to Championship side Southampton. Defeat at Bournemouth followed in the Premier League and while the Gunners remain in the Champions League having progressed to a second successive semi-final, they were far from convincing in edging past Sporting Lisbon 1-0 on aggregate.

Mikel Arteta seemed calm enough in his media duties on Friday, engaging in a couple of jokes with journalists and insisting his side will not spend ‘one single second’ thinking about taking a draw at a place where they haven’t won in a decade.

City have had a full week on the training ground with no European commitments and the mood in the camp has been relaxed but buoyant. There is a confidence in the group that they are now comfortable with each other after 18 months of rebuilding.

And yet there is an acceptance that even in three superb victories over Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, aspects of all three matches could have been better. But the manner in which they took the game away from those sides in devastating fashion has raised belief levels.

“We are ready,” declared Guardiola in the build-up. So is the Etihad, the Premier League and the football world.

Sunday could see one team’s title aspirations go up in smoke.