Mikel Arteta has reiterated his belief that this season’s Premier League title race is not solely between Arsenal and Manchester City.
An injury-time defeat to Aston Villa last weekend saw Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table cut to just two points after City went on to beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
The Gunners had enjoyed an 18-game unbeaten run prior to their defeat at Villa Park, which was only their second of the season in the league.
And Arteta’s side will now be looking over their shoulders with more trepidation given that just the top three are now only seperated by three points heading into the busy festive period.
Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways in the league against bottom-of-the-table Wolves on Saturday, while City face a tricky test away at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
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But when asked about City’s return to form, Arteta was at pains to point out that this season title race is far from a two-horse race.
‘There are a lot of teams involved when you look at the table,’ the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
‘We know the situation with other clubs as well.
‘With Manchester City, it’s always the case that you expect them to have the quality that they have, the experience that they have in the competition. The focus has to be on what we have to do.’
Arsenal remain the favourites to win the league despite their dropped points last weekend, but Arteta said he would work hard to guard against any complacency in his squad.
‘The only thing we can do is increase the probability of winning the next match by doing things that we do really well and preparing the best possible way,’ he added.
Emile Heskey backs City to topple Arsenal in title race
Villa started slowly this season, but an impressive run of nine wins in 10 league games has them up into third.
Despite that, former Villa striker Emile Heskey does not see Unai Emery’s as genuine title contenders, and tipped City to get the better of Arsenal come the end of the season.
‘I don’t think Aston Villa will stay the course, so I’d say Arsenal and Man City are in the race,’ he told Metro via SeatPick, the leading aggregator for reliable resale tickets online.
‘I think Arsenal have got the squad, a really quality team, they have excellent depth but have they got the know-how? I think City have the know-how.
‘City have the the understanding of what it needs to get over the line. They’ve done it time and time again. We’ve seen Arsenal falter a couple of times in recent years, but City managed to know how to get it over the line. So I’m swaying a little bit more towards them at the minute.’
‘Well, showing them [the players] the team that they are, the game they had against Villa a few weeks ago, and understand that a team in that position have to react and have to show their teeth, and that’s a very dangerous thing, especially in this league when every team has the quality that they have. So from our side, that’s not going to happen.’
Saturday’s opponents Wolves are yet to pick up a point under new manager Rob Edwards and have not won a game so far this season, but Arteta insisted they will be no let-up from his side.
‘In any Premier League match and especially against a team that is fighting against results, I know the manager really well and how he’s going to push and get the players ready to [try to cause a shock],’ the Spaniard added.
‘From our side, we’re going to go full gas from the beginning and we know what we have to do.
‘At the end, you’re going to have to have over 90 points probably to win it, so that means winning a lot of football matches and tomorrow we have three points that we have to earn.’
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