Arseblog founder Andrew Mangan has now explained why he considers Arsenal to be underdogs in the Premier League title race.
Arsenal are very much in the Premier League title race this season, but few would have them down as favourites to win it.
In order to be crowned champions at the end of the current campaign, the Gunners will have to surpass both Manchester City and Liverpool, which is no easy feat. Both of Arsenal’s rivals are in exceptional form. If the north London club are to come out on top, Mikel Arteta’s men will have to put together a near-perfect record in the Premier League between now and the end of the season.
Arsenal have been told what they have to do to win the title, but is is easier said than done, and their rivals represent a pair of daunting foes.
Manchester City are the reigning champions. They have won the title in five of the last six seasons, including pipping Arsenal to the post last time around. They have also now been boosted by the recent returns of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne from injury.
The only side to have beaten Pep Guardiola’s men to the title in the last half-decade are Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The Reds are currently top of the table, and are riding a wave of galvanising emotion, as they know that this will be the German coach’s last season in the Anfield dugout.
Do Liverpool and Manchester City have a ‘world-class’ edge over Arsenal?
Speaking on The Gooner Talk podcast, Andrew Mangan has now shared his reasons for believing that Arsenal are at a disadvantage in their battle with Manchester City and Liverpool.
He said, “clearly they have very good squads. I think what they have over us, is one, a sort of experience, having gone the distance…They both have something that Arsenal don’t have yet, which is the contributions from world-class players, world-class talent, and I think we’ve got some fantastic players. I think we’ve got players who can develop into, potentially, world-class players, but what Liverpool and City have is players who’ve been there, done that, won the trophies. They’ve won the Premier League, they’ve won the Champions League, and that’s where I think they have a bit of an advantage over us.”
The debate over whether or not any of Arsenal’s top stars can be considered world-class has raged in recent days, following Rio Ferdinand’s pronouncement that Bukayo Saka is not yet ready to be considered in that category, especially compared to Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
However, it is certainly true that in the likes of Saka, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli, and William Saliba, amongst others, Arsenal can boast plenty of elite quality players. The problem, though, is that both Manchester City and Liverpool could claim that they possess more.
The value of having winning experience in the dressing room cannot be underestimated either. This Arsenal squad cannot claim to truly understand what it takes to win a title after all, as they have never done so before. They can, however, learn lessons from last season, when they slipped up in the run-in, and use that experience to guide them to a more triumphant conclusion this time around.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
