Pep Guardiola says Arsenal are the favourites to win the Premier League title, but Manchester City are still there with them.

Both Arsenal and Manchester City won their Premier League fixtures over the weekend, to maintain a five-point gap between the two teams at the top of the table.

City’s win was a much tighter result, scraping past Crystal Palace thanks to a sloppy concession of a penalty, whilst Arsenal dominated Fulham in a comfortable 3-0.

Yet that gap remains the same, and it’s certainly not enough to rule out Pep Guardiola’s side pouncing as soon as the Gunners slip up.

For the time being, Guardiola continues to insist Mikel Arteta’s side are the frontrunners for the title, claiming City’s recent success in the competition takes away a little bit of their edge.

“Still Arsenal are the favourites because they are in front,” Guardiola said. “They made an incredible first leg, they dropped a little bit but now they’re coming back.

“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.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the season but still they know that we want to be there and we will fight to be there and this is great.”

Arsenal have the chance to deal a psychological blow to City this week, as they face Crystal Palace in the Premier League whilst City play in the FA Cup.

Widening the gap to eight points ahead of the international break would be encouraging, even though City would then have a game in hand.

Guardiola’s side return from the break with a game against an unpredictable Liverpool team, whilst Arsenal face Leeds United at home.

There’s certainly an opportunity there for the Gunners to build on their current position, ahead of a tricky final two months of the season.