Gary Lineker has been speaking about the Premier League title race following Arsenal's 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon
Connor O'Neill
14:19, 09 Feb 2026
Gary Lineker has delivered his Premier League title verdict
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Gary Lineker has delivered his Premier League title verdict
Gary Lineker can’t see a world where Arsenal aren’t crowned Premier League champions this season. The Gunners saw their lead at the top of the table cut on Sunday when Manchester City came from behind to beat Liverpool.
Viktor Gyokeres scored twice, and Martin Zubimendi was also on target as Mikel Arteta’s side comfortably beat Sunderland 3-0 on Saturday afternoon to move nine points clear. But that lead was just over 24 hours later after City came from behind to beat Liverpool thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland.
But even though only six points separate the Gunners and City in the league table, Lineker still believes that it will be Arsenal who are crowned Premier League champions this season.
“I think for the neutrals, it keeps it alive,” he said on the latest of the Rest is Football podcast. “I still don’t think there’s any way that Arsenal won’t win it personally.”
Delivering his own verdict on Sunday night, Gary Neville declared live on Sky: "Well ten minutes ago the title race was done. It was now or never for Man City – it's now!
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"Sometimes in a title race a team will grab an opportunity, City have grabbed one. They could be within three points by Wednesday, which will put pressure on Arsenal.
"It's bedlam out there, it's blue bedlam. Man City were 1-0 down and they've gone and won.
"If you want to sent a signal, you've just sent it. They've struggled lately, it was like they were refusing to enter the title race. But they've entered it in style."
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Mikel Arteta during Arsenal's win over Sunderland
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Mikel Arteta during Arsenal's win over Sunderland(Image: (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images))
Speaking after the victory over the Black Cats, Arteta said: "Very, very happy obviously with the win, with big parts of the performance, with the clean sheet as well, because it's a really tough opponent.
"They're really good at what they do, really good at breaking play, playing to the last line, breaking your press, holding the ball, and it's very difficult to get sequences with threat and momentum consecutively.
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"But we knew that, I think the first goal really helped to unlock that kind of phase, and then again, the finishers, they came on the pitch and immediately they had a huge impact."
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