Mikel Arteta offers Liverpool title race tips after Arne Slot cites Arsenal collapse

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Evening Standard

·29 de noviembre de 2024

Mikel Arteta offers Liverpool title race tips after Arne Slot cites Arsenal collapse

The Gunners were twice caught by Man City in a fiercely battled title races

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has warned Liverpool that life at the top of the Premier League can be “extremely difficult” when trying to hold off your title rivals.

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Liverpool have raced into an eight-point lead this season after losing just one of their opening 12 league games.

Boss Arne Slot, however, has urged caution and he cited Arsenal’s collapse during the 2022-23 season as a reason why.

“But, I think, it was last season – even later on in the season – that Arsenal led by eight points and [Manchester] City came back,” Slot said after Liverpool’s win over Southampton last week.

Arsenal are still in the hunt for the title and they are nine points off Liverpool going into a trip to West Ham on Saturday.

Just when you think you have it, plop! Everything collapses ... it can happen at any moment.

Mikel Arteta on Arsenal title race failures

And asked if Liverpool can be caught, Arteta said: “We’ve been there and to sustain it for 10 months is extremely difficult - everything has to go your way.

“Just when you think you have it, plop! Everything collapses. Results can change through injuries, decisions and it can happen at any moment.

“You have to be ready for that but it’s something you can’t always control. All you can control is to do our very best.”

Liverpool are next in action on Sunday when they host Manchester City, who head to Anfield after failing to win any of their last six games.

But asked if he has any doubts about City’s title credentials, Arteta said: “No, because even with those injuries they deserve to win every game.

“It is simple. You look at the stats and they are always better than the position. They deserve to win the game. This is football. They deserve but you don’t win it. It is for a reason.”

“What I have made of (City’s struggles) is what they have done for nine years. I think that is what people have to talk about, how difficult it is what they have done for nine years consistently.

“And yeah, a bump, everybody has a bump. For them, it is very strange because in nine years they never had it.

“But that tells you as well the level and the environment that we are in, that everything has to go almost perfect.

“Performance has to be perfect, availability of your squad has to be perfect, things have to go your way and the opposition, the level is different, and it’s so hard to win.”