Martin Keown makes pessimistic Arsenal prediction after Manchester City win

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Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown believes Manchester City will win the Premier League title.

Martin Keown has backed reigning champions Manchester City to beat his former club Arsenal to the Premier League title this season. 

Arsenal are underdogs in this season’s title chase, but they will have taken huge confidence from beating Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. The Gunners produced a mature and disciplined performance against Pep Guardiola’s side.

Having come so close to winning the title last season, the north London club will certainly have their hearts set on getting their hands on the trophy this time around. Mikel Arteta invested heavily in the recent summer transfer window to take his squad to the next level. 

This included shelling out £65 million to sign Kai Havertz from Chelsea, and a club record fee of £105 million to prise Declan Rice away from West Ham United. Both players made a significant impact during the win over Manchester City.

Arsenal still have progress to make

Despite all this, Keown isn’t convinced that Arsenal have done enough to bridge the gap. Speaking on TalkSport, the former centre-back, who won three Premier League titles in his time as an Arsenal player, said, “Man City are the favourites…it’s a work-in-progress for Arsenal.”

Arteta himself would probably publicly echo these sentiments. He won’t want to get carried away, and will recognise that there’s still room for his team to improve. In an attacking sense, they haven’t looked entirely fluent so far this season, and there have been one or two costly individual errors at the back.

That being said, they are still unbeaten in the Premier League and only in second place due to goal difference. What’s more, having room for improvement at this early stage of the campaign is no bad thing, it means they can still peak when it really matters. Overall, though, they have to believe that they can do it. Beating City on Sunday will have helped in that regard.