A former Arsenal star has issued his thoughts on the Gunners’ title chances and Chelsea’s efforts to secure Champions League football
Nigel Winterburn has maintained his belief that Arsenal can still clinch the Premier League title ahead of rivals Manchester City. He also predicted that Chelsea will fall short of a Champions League qualification spot.
The Gunners face a daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, which is perhaps the most important fixture left in deciding this season’s title race.
Mikel Arteta’s side are in the midst of a shaky run of form, having suffered defeats to City in the Carabao Cup final, Southampton in the FA Cup and Bournemouth in the league over recent weeks. Their most recent defeat means another loss to Pep Guardiola’s side this weekend would reduce their lead at the summit to only three points.
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With City also having a game in hand, a repeat of the 2-0 Carabao Cup fixture will shift the momentum back in their favour ahead of the final fixtures, despite Arsenal having led the standings for almost the entire campaign. Yet, club legend Winterburn remains confident that the north Londoners can avoid a significant blow to their strongest title challenge since 2004.
The former Gunners left-back, speaking via HFM X Arsenal, said: “I’ve been so strong on us winning the league throughout this season, I am not going to change my mind now.
“I’m going to hope that we can go and put on a brilliant display at City, which will then push us to the title. So I think we’ll be first.”
Winterburn went on to predict the remainder of the top five, given that the Premier League will have at least five teams in the Champions League next season after securing a European Performance Sport for the second straight year.
The Premier League has been way out in front in the EPS table for most of the season, with all nine English clubs reaching the last 16 in Europe. Arsenal’s 1-0 away win over Sporting CP earlier this month sealed the fifth English Champions League spot.
Winterburn continued, stating that Chelsea will miss out on Champions League qualification. He said: “Man City will be second, I think it’s going to be as it is, maybe Man United third, Aston Villa and then Liverpool. I don’t know whether I see any significant changes along the way.
“There might be someone, potentially Chelsea, that could come and disrupt that a little bit, but will any of the other teams? I’m not sure they will. Everybody seems to be putting themselves in a good position and then trying to throw it away.
“But I think this season’s been like that, hasn’t it? There’s been a lot of dropped points from teams that you probably wouldn’t expect to drop points.”
City currently sit on 64 points, while interim boss Michael Carrick has guided cross-city rivals United into third place on 55 points. Matching that tally but trailing on goal difference in fourth are Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
Liverpool currently occupy fifth place with 52 points, although Chelsea, Brentford and Everton are breathing down their necks with 48, 47 and 47 points, respectively. As Arsenal look to secure a crucial first victory over City this season on Sunday, the earlier fixture will see Everton attempt to cause a shock in the Merseyside Derby.
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