The fixture between Arsenal and Manchester United calls to mind matches that set giants of the game against one another: Patrick Vieira versus Roy Keane, Sir Alex Ferguson against Arsène Wenger. 

Sunday's Premier League meeting between the two lived up to expectations, with Arsenal beating their old rivals 3-2. The North London team is now five points ahead of champions Manchester City, who have played a game more.

Though Manchester United went a goal up in the 17th minute through a stunning long-range effort from Marcus Rashford, the Gunners were able to reply with an Eddie Nketiah header and a long-range effort of their own from Bukayo Saka. 

Arsenal conceded an equalizer in the 59th minute to Lisandro Martínez, but were able to seal the win through a last-minute flick of the ball from Nketiah. 

"Mentally and emotionally we were really composed and determined at the same time…We never panicked and we kept believing, doing the same things even better than before," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta explained.

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Having accumulated 50 points in 19 matches, the title is becoming Arsenal's to lose. Even the Arsenal Invincibles only had 45 points at this stage of the campaign. 

However, City boasts the recent experience Arsenal do not, having won the title in four of the last five seasons. En route to winning it last year, City went on a 12-match winning streak, which, if replicable, is sure to test Arsenal's nerve. 

Additionally, Pep Guardiola and his men have yet to play a game against Arsenal this season. The match between the two at the Emirates was postponed to accommodate Arsenal's rearranged match against PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League. Six points for City would close the gap significantly, but falling short in either might put the title out of reach.

Before the two league matches, the two clubs will meet in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

When asked about how he felt going head-to-head with Guardiola, who he previously worked for as an assistant, Arteta told reporters that the rivalry would not change their friendship and that he relished the challenge. 

"I always hoped this would be the case one day and it is happening this season," Arteta explained. "We both want to win and defend our clubs the best possible way. That has always been the case since day one."

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"This is a big test against, in my opinion, the best football team in the world. I am looking forward to it. It will tell us a lot about where we are," he added. 

Unlike the title, the top-four race is more open. Manchester United and Newcastle are the current holders of the final two spots, both on 39 points after 20 matches played. 

After wins against both of the title contenders this season, Manchester United has proven that its development has proceeded rapidly. Newcastle, who were one of the favorites to be relegated last season prior to their takeover, has also seen its fortune turn fast. 

This leaves Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham, who all finished in the Champions League places last season, with a mountain to climb. 

Tottenham are only three points off of fourth, but have played 21 games and recently suffered a morale-bruising defeat in the North London derby.

Meanwhile, Liverpool and Chelsea, who together have won two out of the last four Champions League trophies, are languishing on 29 points, behind Brighton, Fulham, and Brentford. Their meeting last weekend at Anfield ended in a goalless draw, with both sides scrapping for a point to stem the damage.

They are still expected to accumulate enough points to leapfrog the teams directly between them and Tottenham.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

If you are a corporate mascot, you are in danger. Are you current enough? Woke enough? The M&M spokescandies are only the latest to get swallowed up by the left’s dominance of corporate culture.

Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins were all replaced by less interesting, less memorable, corporately generic names. Pearl Milling Company, Ben’s Original (How unoriginal!) Cleveland Guardians and the most generic of all, Washington Commanders. Mia from Land O Lakes butter and her buddy the Frito Bandito were simply sacrificed on the altar of corporate wokemanship. (Woke-personship?)

That’s what happened at Mars. The M&M public relations strategy was to turn a popular family brand woke overnight. The stated goal was, "creating a world where everyone feels they belong and society is inclusive."

That lefty corpspeak didn’t go well, so the media blamed … conservatives. CNBC said Mars dropped the candies "amid right-wing outrage." CNN blamed "a year of conservative backlash to the brand." But Mars admitted its chocolatey spokescandies had been "polarizing."

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That didn’t used to be the case and, fair to say, Mars started it. M&Ms finally ditched the woke marketing the company tried to ram down customers’ throats almost a year ago to the day. That campaign was introduced with an unsubtle strategy to address a "Dynamic and Progressive World." 

By March, Ad Week was headlining M&M'S Global VP Jane Hwang "on Evolving and Future-Proofing Your Brand." (This is future-proofing, if you consider a corporate version of "The Last of Us" to be where you wanted your brand to end up.) 

That innovative campaign saw an update to the look of iconic characters and the introduction of a new purple character. It also included a corporate partnership with bizarre musical performer Lil Nas X, known for sexual videos and marketing his "Satan Shoes," made with a real drop of blood. Mars described him as a "musical superstar." It left out the satanic stuff, of course.

The custom candies featured "images of butterflies, hearts and photos of Lil Nas X." Shockingly, there were no pentagrams and goats’ heads. Someone in marketing slipped up. M&Ms didn’t even team up with the Church of Satan. All that happened under the press release headline: "M&M'S® Partners With Lil Nas X To Bring People Together Through Music, Art And Entertainment." 

When the purple M was introduced in September, it had deliberate woke appeal. Ad Week again showed the Mars agenda: "M&M's Introduces a New Mascot All About Inclusivity."

Finally, Mars admitted defeat, its iconic spokescandides mere shells of their former selves. Actress/comedian Maya Rudolph is taking their place and appearing in a new Super Bowl ad.

Even fellow lefties at The Washington Post were skeptical of the whole situation. "Was this the peanut-centered capitulation to the anti-woke crowd that the brand (maybe) wants us to think? Or just another marketing stunt?" 

Most likely a bit of both. Mars is trying to make the best of a disastrous campaign driving its customers away. But by picking Rudolph who plays Vice President Kamala Harris on "Saturday Night Live," they are still appeasing the woke audience. They are just hiding it better. 

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None of this is surprising. Corporate ESG (Environmental, social, and governance) policies are determined to wokeify every corporation that the left hasn’t already conquered. Corporate leftists don’t care if their moves offend the customers. They just have to appease their buddies on the left and in the legacy media, not that they are very different. 

The Washington Redskins switch also offended core customers. The cancelation came on top of decades of team incompetence and scandal. It wasn’t even important to Native Americans to change the name, just Washington Post zealots.

And the attacks on Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were so ridiculous they even generated a "Saturday Night Live" skit that mocked the decision. Ironically, Jemima was played by new M&M spokesperson Rudolph.

The expression, "go woke, go broke," doesn’t exactly apply here. People will still eat M&Ms. Mars just foolishly followed in the footsteps of other failed marketers and undermined consumer loyalty for their product. The very icons they spent decades building up got torn down in a few months. 

But, hey, it’s woke. And that’s all that matters. 

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