Man City have been found guilty of 114 of 115 charges but while Arsenal await news of sanctions a shadow hangs over the title race

The world continues to await the outcome of the process involving Manchester City after they were found guilty by an Independent Regulatory Commission of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League. Arsenal are among those waiting patiently for the next steps of the process.

City have appealed the commission’s decision and there is still yet to be publication of the decided sanctions that the club face. Some reports have claimed that point deductions are expected amongst other punishments, although others have suggested fans and clubs will be left waiting until early next year for the outcome of the process in its entirety.

Yet that is not expected to be the end of the saga, as The Athletic have reported that Premier League clubs are planning legal action in response to the guilty verdict. It is claimed that several teams mobilised leading lawyers some time ago to determine whether there was any eligibility for claims.

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However, while this is ongoing, the football has not stopped. Arsenal have moved six points clear of Manchester City, and the question remains: who will be the Gunners’ most viable challengers, if any, for the title?

Arsenal's win at Anfield means they have opened a nine-point gap to the side who most would have tipped to be the next best beyond City after just ten games. Speaking last month ahead of the defeat to Mikel Arteta’s side, Andoni Iraola was reluctant to put his side in the fold.

"Like I said before, it is still October,” he said. “We have to take one game at a time, and I always say the reference is more or less when we've played against each other once, so halfway through the season.

“That's when you can start to look at the standings. Right now, we are in a position where we need to improve and keep getting better.”

It is difficult to look at the table and wonder what it might look like and if the name of 'Manchester City' will be spelled out anywhere other than in 20th place when the sanctions are finally announced. Not only that, the tribal nature of fandom is likely to see many claim that this season in general has something of an asterisk next to it.

Arsenal have been on the receiving end of plenty of reductive arguments and false narratives such as this supposedly being one of the poorest Premier League's for a while or that they're very boring to watch. As someone who has been at almost all of the Gunners' games and watched the handful I missed while on leave, I have rarely found myself bored - Nottingham Forest aside.

But whatever happens, the Premier League has a major issue with nearly two decades worth of action somewhat muddied by the case.