Tijjani Reijnders says Manchester City remain “pretty confident” of catching Arsenal in the Premier League title race, but that was before they were taken apart by Manchester United.
Manchester City headed into their game at Old Trafford with the belief that Pep Guardiola’s squad can catch Arsenal, despite the Gunners setting the pace at the top of the table, with Tijjani Reijnders insisting the biggest fixtures can quickly reshape things.
United 2-0 win over their City rivals certainly did that.
“We are pretty confident of catching Arsenal, to be honest,” Reijnders said. “Winning trophies is why we are here.
“The Premier League is the big one, especially after missing out last season. We are really eager to reach that goal.”
Reijnders added that the derby carries significance beyond local rivalry, and said wins in matches of that scale can shift momentum. “Games like this are massive,” he said. “If you win them, confidence grows and momentum can change very quickly.”
When he spoke, Arsenal were six points ahead of City after 21 games, with what seems to be a more favourable set of fixtures for the second half of the season.
In terms of difficult away days, Arsenal only have to travel to City (and Tottenham, I guess), while Guardiola’s men still had to play away at United, Liverpool, Tottenham, who they’ve lost to in three of their last four meetings, and Chelsea. They failed the first of those tests badly.
Before this round of fixtures, Arsenal were 15 points better off than they were after the same fixtures last season. Man City had 13 more while Liverpool had 11 fewer.