{"id":2449,"date":"2026-04-13T10:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:27:20","slug":"man-city-or-arsenal-wayne-rooney-makes-prediction-for-title-decider-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2449","title":{"rendered":"Man City or Arsenal? Wayne Rooney makes prediction for &#8216;title decider&#8217; | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2202716639.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27955313\" alt=\"PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal FC - UEFA Champions League 2024\/25 Round of 16 First Leg\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Man Utd and England legend Wayne Rooney (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wayne Rooney has revealed his prediction for the \u2018Premier League title decider\u2019 between Manchester City and Arsenal next weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners, chasing a first league title since 2004, missed the chance to go 12 points clear at the top of the table on Saturday, losing 2-1 at home to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>That was Arsenal\u2019s third defeat in four games following a Carabao Cup final loss to Man City and a shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Championship side Southampton.<\/p>\n<p>A disappointing weekend for Arsenal got even worse on Sunday as Man City thumped Chelsea 3-0 to move to within just six points of Mikel Arteta\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<p>With a game in hand and a home match against Arsenal next Sunday, the Premier League title is essentially in Manchester City\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United and England legend Rooney views that fixture as a \u2018title decider\u2019 and has backed Man City to beat Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether the game was indeed a title decider, Rooney said on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/brand\/p0lwvsnc\">BBC podcast<\/a>: \u2018Yeah, I think it will be.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271013768_f11f37.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27955351\" alt=\"Chelsea v Manchester City - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Manchester City bet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s\u00a0an important game and if City win if I make them favourites to win the league and if Arsenal win\u00a0it\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0for the taking. It\u00a0probably is\u00a0a title decider.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Pressed for his prediction, Rooney added: \u2018I think Man City will win, 1-0. It\u00a0still\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be done if that\u00a0happens\u00a0but it slightly gives City the advantage.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season either side of the international break.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270892350_083fe4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27955360\" alt=\"Arsenal v Bournemouth - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arsenal are stuttering under Mikel Arteta (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They appeared to stop the rot in the Champions League, beating Sporting 1-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, but suffered another blow against Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why he believes Arsenal are struggling to get over the line, Rooney said: \u2018I think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just the pressure of trying to win the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We know how important experience is at this stage of the season and\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0got quite a few players who\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0won titles so that pressure does build up.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You have a couple of bad\u00a0results\u00a0and you start searching for answers and now\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0struggling to get out of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I still think Arsenal\u00a0have a great chance to win the league but\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0starting to show signs that\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0cracking a little bit and Man City know how to win league titles.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel Martinelli scored an injury-time equaliser as Arsenal drew 1-1 with Manchester City in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium back in September.<\/p>\n<p>But the Carabao Cup final between the Premier League title rivals ended up being a one-sided affair, with Man City winning 2-0 to win the first trophy of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sportmetro\">Facebook<\/a>, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/metrosportuk\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Gary Neville makes fresh Arsenal title claim after Man City destroy Chelsea<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Arsenal legend Paul Merson makes Manchester United title prediction<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: I played for Man City, but I\u2019m praying Mikel Arteta wins the league<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man Utd and England legend Wayne Rooney (Picture: Getty) Wayne Rooney has revealed his prediction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}