Mikel Arteta keeping belief in Arsenal’s title credentials

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has stated that he was impressed with his team’s performance against Manchester City in their 3-1 loss at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. Despite the implications of the results, he believes his team can still go ahead and win the title.

The Gunners were eight points ahead of Manchester City at some point in the season, but both sides had only featured against each other in the FA Cup this season, and Wednesday’s game was their first match against each other in the Premier League.

Unfortunately, the point gap was already down to three. Manchester City needed only a win to overtake the Gunners on goal difference after Arsenal’s winless run in their last two games in the Premier League.

Manchester City had won the previous 10 Premier League games between both sides, and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s mistake in the first half allowed Kevin de Bruyne to score and give Manchester City the lead and on the way to another likely victory.
That was until the referee blew for a penalty against Manchester City when Edinson collided with Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah; Bukayo Saka stepped up and scored.

However, Arsenal lost composure and conceded two goals in the second half as Manchester City ran out 3-1 winners topping the table on goal difference and taking the advantage in the title race, which Arteta believes his team can still win.

“I have more belief than I had before the game. With the performance and the level the team put in, we had the feeling we could beat them. Until the second goal, we had them. But we gave them three goals and the game at the end. Certain errors at this level, you can’t make. At the same time, the team put the level very high. The difference was in the boxes, they had three chances, and they put them away. We had chances, and we didn’t put them away.” Arteta said.