Arsenal ‘laughing’ at Liverpool, Man City as Gunners named big title favourites; Guardiola gem is ‘useless’

The 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Manchester City on Sunday will have given Arsenal huge confidence about winning the Premier League title, according to one observer.

A late Kai Havertz winner handed Arsenal all three points against Brentford on Saturday, putting them top of the table before the gigantic clash between Liverpool and Man City at Anfield the next day. The game could be the last time Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola face each other, and it did not disappoint.

City controlled the early stages and took the lead in the 23rd minute when John Stones finished from a Kevin de Bruyne corner straight off the training ground.

Liverpool were missing key players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate – while having Mo Salah on the bench – though they did not get overrun.

Instead, a raucous Anfield crowd roared Liverpool on as they grew into the game and started to cause City problems.

Klopp’s side drew level early in the second half when Alexis Mac Allister converted a penalty after Ederson had brought down Darwin Nunez in the box.

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Liverpool dominated an enthralling second half and the electric Luis Diaz could have had a hat-trick, while Jeremy Doku hit the post for the visitors.

Despite a late VAR penalty shout for Liverpool, the game ended 1-1, leaving the Merseyside club behind Arsenal only on goal difference, and City a point further back.

Liverpool, Man City draw a great result for Arsenal

According to talkSPORT host Adrian Durham, Arsenal will have been ‘laughing’ at their title rivals as they are now in a great position to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004.

In brutal criticism, Durham also labelled elite City star Erling Haaland ‘useless’ against Liverpool, as he once again failed to get the better of Virgil van Dijk.

“Let’s talk about the title race, I’m going to give you a bunch of reasons why Arsenal will win the title,” the presenter said. “They’re saying it’s a close race and all that – Arsenal are going to win the title.

“They’re scoring more goals than the other two, they’re conceding fewer goals, they’re better than the other two and are playing better.

“Erling Haaland was 2/10 at best in a big game – he was useless. Luis Diaz had one of those days where he couldn’t finish his dinner, Nunez didn’t look like scoring, [Harvey] Elliott never scores.

“Ederson was an embarrassment, he’s now out for four weeks, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

Guardiola substitution questioned

“Pep took off his best player [De Bruyne] with 20 minutes of the 90 left, [Julian] Alvarez looked like a competition winner rather than a World Cup winner.

“Liverpool can’t keep players fit, Klopp bizarrely left Salah and Robertson on the bench for this one.

“And Liverpool’s best midfielder is a 31-year-old journeyman, [and] dirty stopper called [Wataru] Endo.

“Arsenal watched that and they laughed – they know they’ve got the title in the bag unless they bottle it like last season. It’s theirs.”

Arsenal will clearly fancy their chances, especially as they have the best goal difference out of the three teams and are in arguably the best form. However, it is very hard to write off both Liverpool and City.

After all, Arsenal failed to win the title last season, whereas Liverpool and City have both been here before. Klopp is able to benefit from his ‘mentality monsters’, while City can be unstoppable in the final parts of the campaign.

The weekend just gone worked out brilliantly for Arsenal, though they still have 10 huge league matches left to deal with.

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