Arsenal Legend Downplays Gunners’ Title Chance

Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry believes the fact that multiple teams are competing for the Premier League title will make it harder for the Gunners.

On Thursday, Mikel Arteta’s team was stunned 2-0 at the Emirates by goals in each half from Tomas Soucek and former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos. Their failure to overtake league leaders Liverpool is reflected in their current standing, where they lead third-place Aston Villa and fourth-place Manchester City by one and three points, respectively. It will now be more difficult for the north London team to win the title in May, according to Arsenal icon Henry, because of the increased competition at the top of the league.

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He told Amazon Prime: “In my time, it was two teams (Arsenal and Manchester United) that could have won it and then Chelsea came along. Now when you look at it, Liverpool are in it, [Aston] Villa are in it, although no one expected them to be.

“Let’s be honest, they played a Manchester United side where it was do or die in the second half so they had to answer that call. You are not going to kill Villa with what has happened recently. What they have been doing is tremendous and the league is more difficult to win.”

The Gunners lost to City last season, blowing an eight-point lead in the last minutes to fall five points short of Pep Guardiola’s team. Their goal is to avoid missing any additional opportunities to get a lead on the pursuing group.

If Arsenal defeats Fulham, a neighbouring team in London, at Craven Cottage on December 31, they would be able to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League. They rematch with title rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup round three at the Emirates a week later.