Mikel Arteta, after the Gunners had further put pressure on Manchester City, expressed that Arsenal’s nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League doesn’t “mean anything” with the title race now at the stage of final reckoning.
Arsenal reinforced their place at the top with a calm 3-0 win against Sunderland on Saturday, thus increasing their lead, while City have the difficult task of the game against Liverpool on Sunday. A victory for Pep Guardiola’s team would reduce the margin to six points, but a loss might mean them getting a very difficult challenge with 13 games left.
This was the first time since the final round of the 2003-04 title season that Arsenal ended a day at least nine points ahead. It also saw them snap out of a three-game winless streak as two consecutive league triumphs got the momentum back.
Even though they are in a good position, Arteta warned not to get carried away. The Spaniard insisted that Arsenal can only concentrate on their own performances instead of the table and said that it is very important to get ready properly for the meeting with Brentford on Thursday.
Statistical forecasts are very much in favour of the North Londoners, with the Opta supercomputer giving Arsenal a 93.6% chance of becoming champions. Manchester City comes second with 4.6%, Aston Villa with 1.6%, while Chelsea is almost out of the picture at 0.1,% thus confirming that Arsenal are in a dominant position.
