Arsenal remain in the fight for the title despite Bukayo Saka's injury: Liverpool may stutter while Manchester City pray for a top-four spot
Arsenal's quest to win their first Premier League title in 21 years continues – Bukayo Saka's injury changes nothing.
That is the opinion of Gunners Invincible Martin Keownwho believes – or possibly hopes – that “nervousness could creep into Liverpool's game”.
He gunners They are currently six points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game less than Mikel Arteta's men.
Back-to-back draws with Fulham and Everton threatened to end Arsenal's title challenge, but an impressive result 5-1 victory On Saturday, at Crystal Palace, the fans remain hopeful.
But Saka's coup – which is expected to keep him out until February – has Gooners fearing the worst.
LiverpoolMeanwhile, they overcame Arsenal in the final weekend before Christmas (scoring six goals at Tottenham) to claim their 12th top-flight win in 16 games.
Keown acknowledged that Liverpool are the better team, but insisted that they still have many games left to make mistakes.
Sandwiched between Liverpool and Arsenal is Chelsea Secondly, they are four points behind the Reds after their goalless draw against Everton.
Regarding the headlines city of manchesterThey are 12 points behind the Merseyside giants.
The Citizens were beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa last Saturday, their ninth defeat in their last 12 games in all competitions.
pep guardiolaThe men have won the title in the last four years but are in a fight for the top four with the Etihad team seventh in the table.
Speaking to talkSPORT.com, Keown commented on the four teams while giving his opinion on the title race.
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Arsenal
Regarding Saka's injury, Keown stated: “It looks like Saka will be out for about 13 games, we are all looking at the match schedule.
“I don't know of any player who has created more chances for his colleagues in the Premier League this season, so obviously it will be a big failure.
“It's up to someone to step up, maybe (Ethan) Nwaneri, who has been playing the role of (Martin) Odegaard, maybe could come forward and give us something different.
“Jesus suddenly scored five goals in a week, that's been a long time coming so he needs to keep it up.
“But it's in that final third where the most creativity is needed and it might be less now that you're losing one of the best players in the Premier League.”
Keown added of Arsenal's title chances: “You have to make it difficult for your opponent but Arsenal are still in this fight.
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“But the games didn't help Arsenal at the start of the season when you have to go to Villa Park, Man City away, Chelsea away, these are all very difficult games.
“And, of course, some of those games Liverpool haven't played yet.”
Liverpool
“I was looking at Bournemouth, Brentford and (Nottingham) Forest, they are all games Liverpool have to get into.
“Bournemouth have become a very good team now, especially at home, beating Arsenal and Manchester City.
“Forest are the only team to beat Liverpool and Brentford have only lost one home game.
“And they're just three of the games that you would have looked at and thought it's normally three points that they can score.
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“But this Liverpool team, we've reached the halfway mark, there's no doubt they're the best team at the moment.
“I thought they were magnificent against Spurs, you could say that Spurs were naive: their coach (Ange Postecoglou) wants to continue playing in this high line, and high pressure.
“But they exploited it and they knew how to do it and their front three were devastating.
“(Diogo) Jota comes off the bench; they have a lot of options in the final third.”
He continued: “There is a nervousness that could creep into Liverpool's game.
“They went to Newcastle recently and it was quite difficult for them, even at Southampton they were behind, but they found a way to win.”
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Chelsea
“Chelsea have emerged quite brightly, failing to win against Everton at the weekend and Arsenal failing to beat Everton the week before.
“So (Everton) have done a good job, for their local rivals, Liverpool.
“His game, of course, was abandoned Let's say because of the bad weather.
“But there is still a lot of football to be done, it cannot be said that it is in the bag.”
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city man
“If you look at Manchester City, what we are seeing now is almost unprecedented.”
Keown added: “They need to look now and readjust and maybe see what is realistic for them to achieve.
“They can't drop into the top four, that's what they'll be seeing. There's a lot hanging over their heads with these (130 financial) charges.
“I don't know if that played a big role, but it seems like they've lost momentum.
“And now they almost lose every game, it's like that has become a habit: the basics have gone out the window.
“Their defenders, who were unbeatable last year, I can now smell the fear among their players, against Villa there was definitely fear on the pitch, that needs to be eradicated.
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“They have to keep believing and try to get themselves out of trouble, (but) I don't think they can overtake Liverpool now, it just seems like there's too big a gap.
“Maybe they could do it in previous Man City (teams), but not in this group.”
