Kai Havertz admits Liverpool deserve credit for their start to the season, but he insists there’s still plenty of time left in the title race and Arsenal aren’t giving up.
Now in December, Liverpool are already firm favourites to win the Premier League, and Kai Havertz accepts they deserve credit for their impressive first 13 games.
But the Arsenal forward insists that his team are ready to fight, drawing on their experiences from the last couple of years.
“We’ve been in this race already now, last year as well, the year before the team was in there as well, so we know how tough it is,” Havertz admitted. “We are still in the first part of the season, so a lot of things can happen.
“You see now Liverpool, all of a sudden performing on the highest level week in, week out. You have to give credit to them.
“But there are still lots of games to play, lots of points to give, so we’re going to be ready for the fight for sure.”
If anyone is going to catch Liverpool, it looks like being Arsenal. Manchester City are struggling to stop their downward spiral, whilst the Gunners are back scoring goals and winning games again after a recent blip.
Yet despite Mikel Arteta’s side being the closest to leaders Liverpool in the table, the gap is still nine points. Even at this stage of the season, that’s a huge advantage for Arne Slot’s side.
If Arsenal don’t close that gap in their five Premier League games this month, it will become a huge task to overcome it in the new year. It’s not often a team nine points adrift at Christmas goes on to win the competition.
Then again, the record holders in this department are Arsenal themselves, winning the 1997/98 title despite trailing Manchester United by 13 points in December. Perhaps Arteta can look to draw on that history and repeat the feat this season.