Mikel Arteta makes fresh title race claim as Arsenal lead Man City and Aston Villa | Football
Mikel Arteta has reiterated his belief that this season’s Premier League title race is not just between Arsenal and Manchester City.
An injury-time defeat to Aston Villa last weekend saw Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table reduced to just two points after City beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
The Gunners had gone on an 18-match unbeaten run before their defeat at Villa Park, which was only their second of the league season.
And Arteta’s side will now be looking over their shoulders with more worry given that only the top three are now separated by just three points heading into the busy festive period.
Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways in the league against bottom-of-the-table Wolves on Saturday, while City face a tricky test at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
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But when asked about City’s return to form, Arteta was keen to stress that the title race this season is far from a two-horse race.
“There are a lot of teams involved when you look at the table,” the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“We also know the situation of other clubs.
“With Manchester City, you always expect them to have the quality they have, the experience they have in the competition. The focus has to be on what we have to do.
Arsenal remain favorites to win the championship despite dropping points last weekend, but Arteta said he will work hard to guard against any complacency from his side.
“The only thing we can do is increase our chances of winning the next game by doing the things we do very well and preparing in the best possible way,” he added.
Emile Heskey backs City to topple Arsenal in title race
Villa have started slowly this season, but an impressive run of nine wins in 10 league matches leaves them in third place.
Despite this, former Villa striker Emile Heskey does not view Unai Emery as genuine title contenders and has tipped City to get the better of Arsenal at the end of the season.
“I don’t think Aston Villa will stay the course, so I would say Arsenal and Man City are in the race,” he said. Metro via SeatPick, the leading aggregator of reliable online resale tickets.
“I think Arsenal have the team, a really quality team, they have excellent depth but do they have the know-how? I think City have the know-how.
“City understand what they need to get to the finish line. They’ve done it time and time again. We’ve seen Arsenal falter a few times in recent years, but City have managed to figure out how to get to the finish line. So I’m leaning a little bit more towards them at the moment.
“Well, showing them (the players) the team they are, the game they had against Villa a few weeks ago, and understanding that a team in that position has to react and show their teeth, and that’s a very dangerous thing, especially in this league where every team has the quality that they have. So from our side, that’s not going to happen.
Saturday’s opponents Wolves are yet to score a point under new manager Rob Edwards and have not won a game so far this season, but Arteta insisted they will take no respite from him.
“In any Premier League game and especially against a team that is fighting against results, I know the manager very well and how he is going to push and prepare the players to (try to cause a shock),” added the Spaniard.
“For our part, we are going to be full from the start and we know what we have to do.
“At the end of the day it will probably take more than 90 points to win, which means winning a lot of football matches and tomorrow we have three points to win.”
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