The end of the Premier League is drawing nigh and just three points separte Liverpool in first place from Manchester City in third, while Arsenal hope to go one place better than last season.
According to Danny Murphy, Arsenal will fall short in the Premier League title race for a second season in succession, with the former Liverpool star believing three fixtures could cost the Gunners.
Murphy suggests games away to Tottenham and Manchester United, in addition to this weekend’s trip to the Amex Stadium to face Brighton, will see Mikel Arteta’s side fail in their quest.
Arsenal have defeated both Man City and Liverpool at home this season and drawn against their title rivals away, but Murphy reckons they will still come unstuck.
The north London side currently sit in second position, two points behind Liverpool and one ahead of Manchester City. All three teams have eight matches remaining and are involved in Europe, but only City will see any disruption from the FA Cup.
A win against the Seagulls will take Arsenal top of the league, at least until Liverpool take on Manchester United. Regardless of the outcome, Murphy is pleased to see City being put under pressure.
“This is what we want from a Premier League title race,” Murphy said on talkSPORT, “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.”
Arteta also believes that trio of matches will prove important but is reluctant to diminish Arsenal’s games at the Emirates. Nevertheless the Spaniard is expecting a tough task against Brighton.
“Yes, but at home as well,” he said. “We have the Champions League games and we have some big games at home, so every game in this league is extremely difficult.
“You look at last night [Thursday] what happened again and everybody is just suffering to win because the level is so high and we’re going to have a really tough opponent again in Brighton. We know that, so we’ll prepare well and try to be better than them and try to win.”
