Danny Murphy firmly believes Arsenal may not get over the line in the title race and blames their remaining fixtures as his reasoning.
The Premier League title race continues to keep everyone guessing as to who might eventually take the grand prize at the end of 38 games. Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City are in the thick of the most tightly contested title race, probably the first such in the Premier League era, considering how close the top three teams are to each other, and Danny Murphy has commented on this battle.
Things are calculated on the basis of acceptable margins now, with fans already looking at multiple factors, including goal difference and the remaining fixtures for either side. Danny Murphy believes the latter may have a telling effect, particularly for Arsenal, as the former Liverpool midfielder rules the Gunners out of the race just based on the opponents they have left to face, as his comments on Daily Mirror suggest.
Murphy said, “This is what we want from a Premier League title race. Unless you’re a Man City fan, you probably want someone else to win it. I wanted Arsenal to win it last year, for example. It’s not that I don’t admire Man City, of course I do, it’s a phenomenal team with a great manager. But we need that competition in the Premier League and this is turning into a real ding dong.”
“I don’t think Arsenal will get over the line, just because of the fixtures. They’ve got to go to Tottenham, Old Trafford and Brighton.”
As for his comments, out of those three tricky away fixtures, Arsenal did manoeuvre relatively comfortably against Brighton on Saturday, winning with a 3-0 scoreline. Sure enough, the trip to Old Trafford and Tottenham Hotspur are daunting affairs. But the Gunners have shown they have what it takes to take on the challenge ahead.
They also managed to take three points away at Spurs last season and might be slight favourites to do so again this season. The Gunners have been superb this season on the road, especially since the turn of the year, where they have not lost a league game in ten attempts.
They also have a few games to manage in the remaining seven fixtures in the Premier League calendar. However, as Murphy said, those two away fixtures with Manchester United and Tottenham could define their chances in the title race.
Incidentally, at the time of writing, Liverpool were taking on Manchester United at Old Trafford, while they also have to face Tottenham at home later. Manchester City must also travel to north London to face Tottenham later, and on paper, Liverpool might have the most favourable fixtures list remaining among the top three this season.
As for Arsenal, they might have the challenging task of those two away clashes. But the North Londoners have shown they have the power to overcome any team this season. Hence, the Ginners are very much in the race but not quite the outright favourites to win the three-prone race for the Premier League crown.
