Arsenal F.C Pundit Charles Watts has made it clear he is convinced the Gunners can still run Liverpool very close in this season’s Premier League title race.
The Gunners beat Nottingham Forest at the weekend to bounce back from a recent spell of poor form, while Manchester City seem to be slipping away after a surprising run of five straight defeats in all competitions.
Speaking exclusively to Caught offside for his latest Daily Briefing column, Watts had his say on Arsenal’s hopes for the season, making it clear he felt it was still not a done deal for league leaders Liverpool.
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“With 25 minutes to go at Southampton on Sunday, it looked set to be an almost perfect weekend for Arsenal in the Premier League,” said Watts.
“Mikel Arteta’s side produced their best performance of the season so far on Saturday as they brushed aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 and then sat back and watched Manchester City get destroyed by clinical Spurs in the Etihad
“Southampton’s fightback against Liverpool at St Mary’s, which saw them lead 2-1 after falling behind early on, seemed to put the gloss on what had been an excellent 24 hours, but then that man Mo Salah performed his rescue act for Liverpool, albeit with plenty of help from the goalkeeper and the Saints defence.
“So things didn’t go as well as they could have for Arsenal, with Liverpool maintaining their nine-point lead over them, but to be honest that was expected at the start of the weekend .Any point Liverpool lost on the south coast would have been a plus.
Can Arsenal build on this win over Nottingham Forest?
“For Arsenal, the key now is to build on the result and the performance against Forest, because it was very good. For the first time in a long time there was a real sense of balance in the team. They looked a lot more like the Arsenal side we’ve become used to over the last couple of years and they have to build on that now.”
He added: “If Mikel Arteta can continue to have his big players at his disposal over the coming weeks, there’s no reason why they can’t string a good winning run together. There are six winnable league games from now until New Year’s Day, if Arsenal win all six I’m convinced they’ll be within striking distance of Liverpool come 2025 and then it’s all to play for.
“Liverpool are on a hell of a run but they don’t look unbeatable. Things are going their way a bit and Sunday’s game at Southampton was a clear example of that.”
It’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting title race, but Arsenal fans will no doubt be furious that their squad has been whittled down just as Manchester City have also had a tough time of it.
The north London giants finished just two points behind Pep Guardiola’s men as last season’s title race went down to the final day of the season.
