Despite Arsenal looking stronger than they did at the beginning of the season, Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier still reckons they’ll miss out on a top four spot.
A win at Burnley on Sunday boosted the Gunners up into the top four for the first time since the beginning of the season. However Le Tissier isn’t convinced that Arsene Wenger’s side will have the consistency to finish in one of the coveted Champions League spots come May.
“The real question is who will be second, third and fourth for me as I don’t see anybody challenging City. I know Huddersfield gave them a scare but I don’t think anybody can match them over the course of the season,” the ex-England midfielder told Sky Sports.
“Arsenal are not suddenly convincing me with a 92nd-minute 1-0 victory over Burnley and Liverpool also miss out for me because their defence and goalkeeper are well behind the level of the other five.
“Tottenham have had a couple of setbacks and are missing Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama. I’m not convinced by Eric Dier and Harry Winks as a central-midfield pairing and I’d change my mind about them being in the top four if you played those two for the rest of the season.
“Winks has a lot to learn and flatters to deceive in my opinion in terms of his impact on a game compared to Mousa Dembele.
“I don’t think Chelsea have enough to defend their title but do think they will be in the top four and it will be tight between them and Spurs for third and fourth.”
To be fair, I’m not sure most Gooners expect their team to finish in the top four either. While the North London Derby victory was fantastic and definitely showed what we can do when we really want those three points, we’ve also shown more than once, including against Burnley, that we find it hard to do that consistently. This has been our issue for years.
Manchester City, however, as the Le Tissier says, are flying at the top of the table. Despite their uninspiring performance against Huddersfield at the weekend, Pep Guardiola’s men still managed a 2-1 win and they remain unbeaten in the Premier League. Isn’t it the ‘winning ugly’ that makes champions?
Hopefully, Arsenal can at least finish in the top four and prove Le Tissier wrong, even if we ain’t catching City.