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Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara has predicted Arsenal will throw away the Premier League title within the space of 10 days by choking against Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea in late April and early May. The talkSPORT pundit is now adamant that Manchester City will catch the Gunners having evaluated both side’s fixtures between now and the end of the season despite Arsenal’s five-point advantage.
Mikel Arteta’s side laid down another marker on Sunday when they ran out 3-0 winners on the road at Fulham after City battled past Crystal Palace with a 1-0 victory on Saturday evening.
But even though Arsenal are now considered to be the favourites, O’Hara is still confident the Gunners will collapse – just like last season in the race for Champions League football.
The retired midfielder said on talkSPORT: “I think Man City will still win. We’ve had a tweet come in and this is exactly what I think, ‘City stay in touch with Arsenal until the last five games of the season, the Gunners will bottle it’ and I think the same thing.
“You stay in touching distance with Arsenal, five points, three points, they’ve got to play each other. Man City need to beat Arsenal, that’s in six games’ time. After that you’ve got five games left.
“If Man City beat Arsenal, they’re in touching distance with five games to go, who’s going to have the experience, who’s going to have the bottle? Man City have been there all before.
“There’s a lot of football still to play. They’ve still got to play Man City, and then after they play Man City, they’ve got to play Chelsea, who have pulled it together, then they’ve got to play Newcastle away.
“Alright, three huge games, where in my opinion, Arsenal will bottle the title. That week there, 29th April to 6th May, that is when Arsenal are going to lose the league.”
Arsenal have lost both of their matches against Manchester City this season – 3-1 in the Premier League and 1-0 in the FA Cup – meaning the odds are stacked against them delivering a result at the Etihad Stadium next month.
The Gunners also have to navigate a tricky away trip to Newcastle, where they lost 2-0 last season in their penultimate fixture to lose control to Tottenham in the race for Champions League football.
Eddie Howe’s side have already taken points off City at St James’ Park this season having also held Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Chelsea are also a side reborn following their recent revival under Graham Potter, having recorded three consecutive wins in all competitions.
Despite Arsenal’s tricky run-in, Pep Guardiola still makes Arteta’s troops Premier League title favourites as City look to chase down their rivals.
“Still Arsenal are the favourites because they are in front. They made an incredible first leg, they dropped a little bit but now they’re coming back,” he said.
“They have had many years not winning the Premier League and it gives you a little extra to win games in 93, 98 minutes. That is something they have that we don’t have because we won back-to-back two times.
“That’s why when people say about your opinion on the team and the season it’s after two times back-to-back and 50 points for our opponents in the first half still we are there.
“Normally in this country when you win something a lot and you don’t start well or someone is a bit better, you drop it. You are not consistent. Still we are there. This is the best trophy and compliment that we can have.”
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