Arsenal go into the new year sitting on top of the Premier League but will they be there when the medals are handed out in May?placeholder image
Arsenal go into the new year sitting on top of the Premier League but will they be there when the medals are handed out in May? | Manchester United via Getty Imag
Arsenal go into the new year sitting on top of the Premier League but will they be there when the medals are handed out in May?
Arsenal were almost being handed the Premier League title before Bonfire Night due to the respective struggles of their nearest rivals.
A ridiculous run from Aston Villa and Man City’s new signings starting to click with on-form pair Phil Foden and Erling Haaland has seen the league become a three-horse race and there will be plenty of twists and turns between now and the end of the season. The Gunners are in good shape at the half-way point with the hard work only just about to begin ahead of what will be a stressful second half of the campaign. A 4-1 thumping of Villa has let the rest of the league know that they aren’t going away anytime soon.
Rio Ferdinand makes Premier League title prediction
The betting has it a close race between Arsenal and City with recent results being enough for Rio Ferdinand to change his mind on the prediction that he made in the summer: “I said [Arsenal would finish] first before a ball was kicked, but if I was a betting man right now I’m going City,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel. “I want Arsenal to win it but the way things are going now, City might just win it now.”
“I think Arsenal had a nice gap but they’ve allowed a few teams to get closer again,” he said. “I think you have got to smell blood. You’ve been close enough the last couple of seasons and been pipped, I think you have to smell blood at the earliest point and just go for it. It’s easier said then done but I think you have enough experience without winning to understand what you now need to do. So I think that the manager needs to get that across to the players.”
Why have Arsenal slipped up in the past?
Arsenal have ran out of steam in recent seasons with Ferdinand claiming that he knows the reason why Arteta has yet to add a Premier League title to his trophy cabinet. He continued: “You have to bully the teams near the bottom or middle part of the table and just be relentless and just try and be a little tighter against the teams in and around you. That is where Arsenal have always let themselves down against the teams that you should win against, especially at the critical points of the season.
“You haven’t been able to get those jobs done and that’s an area where you have to change.” One of the major differences this season will be the size and depth of Arsenal’s squad, the second-choice defence is still a strong one with Arteta having more options in the forward line than at any time in his tenure as manager. The current injury list would have crippled Arsenal in the past, but they are only going to get stronger now as bodies return as they showed by “bullying” Villa.
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