Troy Deeney does not understand why Arsenal are shorter odds to win the Premier League than champions Manchester City, who have been backed to “nick” a win at Liverpool on Sunday.
Man City have lost three Premier League matches in a row and are without a victory across all competitions since their 1-0 win over Southampton on October 26.
Their dismal form could not come to an end even after the positive news of Pep Guardiola’s contract extension. In fact, they lost 4-0 at home to Tottenham in the first game after the announcement.
Next up for City is Liverpool at Anfield, who have only lost once this season, a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.
The Reds are absolutely flying under new head coach Arne Slot and beat European champions Real Madrid 2-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday to continue their 100 per cent record in the competition.
Basically everyone is expecting Liverpool to inflict more pain on City and Guardiola – who is sixth in the Premier League sack race – on Sunday, but former Watford captain Deeney is not so sure.
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Deeney believes people are wrong to write City off as they are still above Arsenal in the Premier League, though a defeat to Slot’s side would leave them trailing the league leaders by 11 points after only 13 matches.
“I think City are going to be better organised,” Deeney told talkSPORT.
“I think this is the perfect game for them. I know that’s a weird thing to say.
“But Liverpool just beat Real Madrid, so their fans are expectant. But this is the first time Man City have been underdogs in a game for the betting companies. So everyone is writing them off.
“I think they will be more together, more solid. I can see them nicking it, 2-1.”
He added: “People were telling me today, Arsenal are more favourites to win the league than Man City, and Man City are second. I don’t know what’s going on.
“And they still have the best striker in the world, right? I’m confused.”
One Man City player who has come under serious criticism is right-back Kyle Walker and Deeney has jumped to his defence.
“Because now he’s all of a sudden old because he’s been ran twice by (Antoine) Semenyo, who’s not exactly slow, and Adama Traore, who is basically Usain Bolt,” he said.
“So it’s not fair criticism I would say.
“I think there’s a lot of people like (Manuel) Akanji, who gets away with murder in that regard. He’s not really defended that great.
“Then Kyle’s the one we dig out. But that’s the role of being a big player, he gets just as much adulation as he does negativity.”