Former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin has said that while he still thinks Arsenal are favourites to win the Premier League, they need to be careful.
In an exclusive interview with BestBettingSites, Nevin says the Gunners need to remain fully-focused on the task at hand.
Arsenal’s most recent match saw them take down north London rivals Tottenham in a 4-1 demolition, fresh off the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw at the hands of bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
On Sunday, 1st March, Arsenal host Chelsea in another massive match for Mikel Arteta’s side and their title dreams.
Arsenal’s recent form has been worrying
Following a poor run of form, including dropping points against Brentford and Wolves, many thought that Arsenal’s title hopes were over.
In the grand scheme of things, a few points dropped doesn’t seem like the end of the world.
Declan Rice, in fact, saw the Brentford draw as a point gained, not two points lost.
In a Premier League title race, however, you cannot afford to slip up – especially not with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City breathing down your necks.
City haven’t been performing to the levels we know they are capable of this season, but their recent form has started to gather some momentum.
Arsenal are currently five points ahead of Man City, who have a game in hand.
If they had lost the north London derby at the hands of Spurs, that would have been just a two-point lead, putting the race into Man City’s hands.
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Spurs win reignited Gunners belief
A 4-1 win over your bitter rivals can do no harm in instilling belief back into the fanbase.
There was a lot of noise heading into the match, but the Gunners were fully-focused on bringing all three points back to N5.
Many people are now once again believing they will do the job – including Nevin.
He said: “There’s always benefit in beating your neighbours.
“Does it make them massive favourites? I still think they’re slight favourites, because of the depth of the squad more than anything else.”
Man City are hungrier than ever, though.
With rumours that this could be Guardiola’s final season as City boss, the desire to win as strong as it has ever been – and you can never rule them out.
“It’s basically them and City [competing for the title] again, City are coming back into form now,” said Nevin.
“The Premier League is hard. You don’t walk away with it… there are no easy teams.
“Arsenal will be looking at it and thinking, yes, we’re alright at the moment. If you’re a player, you should be thinking this is a great place to be.
“But City are looking better than they have at any point this season. They’re getting better all the time and you suspect that’s going to continue into the run-in.”
Chelsea game crucial to title race
With a match against Chelsea next on the agenda for Arteta, three points are absolutely essential.
Manchester City are set to face a lively Leeds United side, and Elland Road can be a very uncomfortable stadium to visit.
For Arsenal, it’s simple: keep winning, and the title is within reach.
Chelsea won’t make things easy though, especially if their last meeting is anything to go by.
In the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, Rosenior’s men sat back and absorbed the Gunners pressure, despite needing to score a goal to get back into the tie.
Ex-Blues player Kai Havertz eventually scored late on to kill Chelsea’s Wembley dreams.
Nevin says Rosenior needs to set his side up with more intent this time around.
“That’s a very interesting game,” Nevin said.
“They’ve already played twice since the new manager came in and it was interesting… In the second leg I thought the tactics were quite clever. They didn’t work, but they were clever.
“At that point in time, if Chelsea had opened up against Arsenal, I think they could have been ripped to shreds.
“Now they have to go for it. Chelsea can’t do that again in this situation, not in the league. They have to try and win the game more.
“So for both teams, it should be a much more open affair.”
Speaking on the importance of this match from an Arsenal perpective, Nevin said it’s “huge”.
“How many points can you afford to lose between now and the end of the season? Not many.
“A draw would not be a great result for Arsenal. It’s that tight. It’s that difficult. They need the win. Simple as that.”
SportJustSport writers