How the Title is Decided if Arsenal and Man City Finish Level on Points and Goals

The Premier League title race is intensifying as the 2025–26 season enters its final stretch, with both Arsenal and Manchester City firmly in contention for the crown. But what happens if the two sides end the campaign completely level and nothing separates them?

It is a scenario that has never previously occurred in Premier League history. As things stand, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lead the table with 70 points and a +37 goal difference.

How the title is decided if Arsenal and Man+ City finish level on points and goals

How the title is decided if Arsenal and Man+ City finish level on points and goals Source: Getty Images

City, meanwhile, are just three points behind with a game in hand and only one goal separating the two sides in the standings.

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If the teams finish level on points, the first tiebreaker would be goal difference. Given how close the race is, it is not impossible that they could also finish level in that department.

Should that happen, the next deciding factor would be goals scored. At present, City hold a narrow edge, having scored 65 goals compared to Arsenal’s 63.

If everything remained identical even after that, officials would turn to head-to-head records between the two teams.

The sides played out a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium earlier in the season, but Erling Haaland later struck in a 2-1 win for City at the Etihad Stadium.

That result would give Pep Guardiola’s side the advantage in the unlikely event of a full statistical tie.

Such fine margins are not unfamiliar in Premier League history. Guardiola has previously been involved in tight title battles, edging Liverpool by a single point in both the 2018–19 and 2021–22 seasons.

Only a handful of campaigns have ever been decided by such slim differences, including Arsenal’s 1997–98 triumph.

Perhaps the most dramatic example came in 2011–12, when Manchester City and Manchester United finished level on 89 points.

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City claimed their first-ever Premier League title thanks to superior goal difference, sealed in unforgettable fashion by Sergio Agüero’s stoppage-time winner on the final day under Roberto Mancini.