Who will lift the Premier League title in May between Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal?
Will Jurgen Klopp deliver the perfect parting gift to Liverpool fans? Is it going to be yet more dominance from Pep Guardiola? Or will Mikel Arteta finally end Arsenal’s two decades of hurt?
On Tuesday night, Manchester City, after dropping points at home to Chelsea at the weekend, narrowly beat Brentford 1-0 to move above Arsenal in the table.
The current champions are now one point behind the leaders Liverpool, with Arsenal two points behind, but they boast a better goal difference than their title rivals.
Thierry Henry admitted that ‘you don’t feel comfortable’ sitting in third place as he dropped a pretty straightforward message to his former side, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (20/02/24 at 10:50 pm).
The legendary striker made it clear that if Arsenal are to win the title, then he thinks ‘the last five games away from home will decide it’.
That includes a trip to the Etihad to take on Manchester City, as well as games against Brighton and Wolves, the north London derby and their final away trip will be none other than a visit to Old Trafford.
Not forgetting that Arsenal might have to contend with Champions League knockout games in between, so this is really going to test the mental toughness of these players after they bottled it last time out.
Arsenal drop to third in the Premier League table
“When you are third, you don’t feel comfortable,” said Henry.
“Where I am kind of happy, I mentioned it, the front three not scoring enough goals and people go on the bandwagon straight away ‘they need a striker’. They needed to finish their opportunities because they had so many opportunities.
“I could show you games where they had chances way more easier than the one they scored with recently, but they didn’t put the ball into the back of the net.
“When we are in a situation when we create chances and we put the ball into the back of the net, even playing without Gabriel Jesus, we can be very difficult to beat.
“But the last five games away from home will decide the title for us at Arsenal.”
Arsenal scoring for fun
These past few weeks have been nothing but a dream for the Arsenal fans because they have taken apart West Ham United and Burnley.
But whilst everything is now rosy in the garden, the players must surely know that the toughest moments await them.
The big games, on paper, such as Manchester City, speak for themselves and they will have their own type of pressure.
Where Arsenal need to be careful are the games they are expected to win. It wouldn’t be a surprise if there is a game against a mid-table side where they fall behind early, or are only 1-0 up after 80 minutes.
That’s when they need to show that grit and come through it, rather than collapse in front of the footballing world again.
