Pulsating Man City vs Arsenal title showdown proves English football is back with a bang

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And to think, some people reckon the Premier League is boring. That was until the two best teams in the land got together, to gang up on the critics of English top-flight football.

Putting on the kind of show which deserves to put such ridiculous claims to bed once and for all. The mesmerising skills of Rayan Cherki were worth the entrance fee alone.

And if Manchester City were worried about having to replace the departing Bernardo Silva then worry no more. Because Cherki has what it takes and more, when it comes to filling such sizeable boots.

But more of Cherki later. Because the Frenchman was just one part of a mesmerising and often magical game at the Etihad. A showdown that swung from brilliant to bonkers at the drop of a hat.

Two teams living on the edge. Walking a tightrope of hope, fear, elationand despair in equal measure. When these rivals clashed in the Carabao Cup final a few weeks ago, the game had been so dull it felt capable of sending a glass eye to sleep.

But this reunion was the polar opposite. For once, a football game delivering what it had said on the tin beforehand. It was hard work just watching it all unfold, let alone being part of it.

The woodwork was struck four times. On one occasion, the ball rolled squeezed along the entirety of the City goal line, without anyone in a red shirt able to poke it home.

City took the lead with a goal of sheer beauty. Then Cherki stared down the visiting supporters, reminding us all how his levels of gamesmanship know no bounds.

But the lead lasted less than a minute, before Arsenal equalised thanks to something quite ugly from one of the best goalkeepers in the world, in the shape of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The same Donnarumma who went on to produce a world-class save, which turned the game in his side's favour. We had players falling over at crucial moments. Others falling over on purpose to con the referee.

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Silva almost scored direct from a corner, which would have been the most ironic goal of the season, considering who the opposition was. Arteta almost got smacked in the face when a linesman raised his flag.

And the Arsenal manager was then punched on the nose, when Erling Haaland, who had done little in the game, popped up from nowhere to score the winning goal.

There was a second-half melee, which ended in Haaland having his shirt ripped from his back. Then another clash more sinister, which saw Gabriel and Haaland but heads.

While the City players celebrated like they'd won the title itself, after Silva charged back to stop Kai Havertz from racing clear to score what would have been his second goal of the game.

It was full throttle football from start to finish. The kind of helter-skelter stuff that became the trademark of the English game. A kind of beautiful madness in Manchester. An occasion befitting its own importance.

One which lurched between the sublime and the ridiculous. And one which left one manager in heaven, and the other one in hell. The Etihad must have felt like a lonely and unforgiving place to Mikel Arteta at the final whistle.

The Spaniard wouldn't have wanted the game to end. And the millions of neutrals watching this game around the world, probably felt the same. Just for very different reasons.

Because it proved the demise of our national sport has been exaggerated. And even if it did leave us for a while, English football is definitely now back with a bang.

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