A former Arsenal defender has claimed that the Gunners can still catch Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
The Reds would extend their lead over Mikel Arteta’s side to 16 points if, as expected, they win at home to bottom club Southampton this afternoon. The north Londoners will then have two games in hand, but those are away to Manchester United tomorrow and at home to Chelsea next weekend.
As of Saturday morning, Arsenal need Arne Slot’s team to slip up in at least four of their remaining 10 top-flight matches, and that’s without dropping any points themselves.
Sagna not ruling Arsenal out of title race just yet
However, having been unimpressed with Liverpool’s performance against PSG in the Champions League in midweek (as was Vitinha), Bacary Sagna isn’t ruling out the possibility of a monumental collapse from the Reds in the last two months of the season.
The 42-year-old told talkSPORT: “The season is not over. Of course it’s going to be difficult to catch Liverpool but, when I look at the game they played against Paris Saint-Germain, I’m thinking maybe sometimes they’re going to have times where they don’t perform so well, as it was the other night.
“Maybe this is where Arsenal can catch up and close the gap. The gap is probably big today but maybe it might be reduced. You never know.
“I believe Paris have a good chance of going through in the Champions League, and then the vibe will be down. At the minute Liverpool is flying, of course, because of the results they’re having, but you never know. Football can go very fast and in a split moment they can lose a little advantage they’re having today.”
Arsenal have it all to do if they’re to catch Liverpool
Even with a 13-point lead in the Premier League and a 1-0 advantage to take back to Anfield for the second leg against PSG, Liverpool can’t fall into the trap of thinking that they’re champions-elect domestically or already through to the quarter-finals in Europe.
Arne Slot stressed repeatedly in yesterday’s press conference that today’s match against Southampton is a ‘final’, in a clear message that his team will treat it as if they have zero margin for error in the title race.
That’s the mindset his players need to take onto the pitch as, despite the 58-point chasm between the sides at opposite extremes in the table, the Saints gave us an almighty scare in the reverse fixture at St Mary’s in November, when the Reds needed a second-half comeback to prevail 3-2.
So long as Liverpool’s mentality is right, though, it’s going to be extremely difficult for Arsenal to make up the current gap on the leaders, and in reality the Gunners need to win every match from hereon if they’re to have any hope of pulling off an unlikely title triumph.
It’s very much in LFC’s hands and they have a sufficient cushion to be able to ship a couple of blows, but they’ll be determined not to give Arteta’s side even a sniff of a chance of hauling them back from here.
