TalkSPORT pundit Alan Pardew believes Arsenal and their manager Mikel Arteta will still be worried about the threat that Man City pose in the title race.
Pep Guardiola’s side suffered a shock defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend but Pardew claims that they are very capable of challenging the Gunners if they can give more support to Erling Haaland:
“Mikel Arteta and Arsenal would have looked at that game and thought, ‘wow, what a result that is.’ You can’t but fear Man City making a challenge, I think there’s a big challenge in them even though they lost at Aston Villa, I really do.”
“The only worry is if they’re too reliant on Haaland, who’s really on form but is still going to need others to pitch in. In previous Man City teams, you would get a few players really contributing but I wonder if there’s enough around Haaland to win the title.”
“They need someone to step up to the plate and help out Haaland. There’s so much potential in that squad, but Pep needs to see it on the pitch.”
Man City are overreliant on Haaland
The Cityzens have scored 15 goals in 9 Premier League games this season, but 11 of them have been scored by their No.9.
Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden and Matheus Nunes have also been on the scoresheet, but not one of them has found the back of the net more than once.
Reijnders and Cherki both scored their goals during the opening day win against Wolves as well, so City have only had three other scorers in the league since mid-August.
The Premier League title odds
Following the defeats suffered by City and Liverpool at the weekend, Arsenal’s odds have shortened even further, with bookmakers pricing them between 4/9 and 2/5.
Guardiola’s team, meanwhile, have odds of 9/2, while reigning champions Liverpool are now regarded as outsiders at 7/1.
Read more about the Man City First Team Squad for 2025/26 here
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