Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has declared people want Arsenal to emerge as Premier League champions instead of Manchester City.
The former Manchester City assistant manager, who worked under Pep Guardiola at City, insisted Arsenal are “people champions” and is being tipped by English and world football fans to win the Premier League title.
Arsenal picked on an overwhelming start to their Premier League campaign this season, maintaining an incredible winning run that kept them on top of the Premier League summit since November.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, the high-flying Mikel Arteta boys have suddenly witnessed a drastic dip in form that climaxed with a loss to Manchester City at the Etihad.
After traveling to London Stadium to smash Tottenham in the London Derby and taking down Manchester United at Emirates, the Gunners surprisingly stumbled against struggling Everton, suffering their second Premier League defeat of the season after losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier in the season.
After the loss against Everton, Manchester City compounded their woes, knocking them out of the FA Cup. Their next Premier League game against Brentford ended in a stalemate with both sides sharing the spoils.
Despite the poor run of form, Mikel Arteta still stayed put in the Premier League title race, remaining at the summit of the table.
However, in a crunch tie against Manchester City at the Emirates, the Gunners were finally torpedoed in the Premier League league top, following a 1-3 loss to City.
Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring for City in the 24th minute before Bukayo Saka converted a spot-kick in the 42nd minute to level the scores before halftime.
Two second-half goals by Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland sealed a win for City, displacing Arsenal on the summit of the Premier League table for the first time in five months.
However, Mikel Arteta has insisted Arsenal are strongly in the race to win the Premier League title this season.
Speaking in a post-match press conference before Arsenal’s trip to Villa Park, Mikel Arteta said his high-flying side are “people champions” and are tipped by many to win the 2022/23 Premier League title and end City’s serial domination of the league.
Mikel Arteta hopes to tap into the public support and backing of Arsenal to win the Premier League title.
“People want us to win the title because they have a lot of sympathy for us, for our players, and the way we have done things”, the coach said.
Mikel added that Manchester City have been the No 1 candidate from day one because they have been in that position for most of the last five years, however, Arsenal have emerged as strong contenders and will continue to challenge for the league title this season.
“When you see the team performing and winning matches like we have been doing this season, there is more enthusiasm to try to achieve something bigger”, the coach noted.
The 40-year-old also said the team has to continue on their winning mentality if they are to stay in contention as they cannot control the outcomes of games played by other teams.
“It doesn’t happen overnight and we cannot control what other teams will do, so the only challenge is to win our next game because what happens in the table this weekend is going to change in three weeks, that’s for sure.”
Is Arsenal still in the Premier League title race?
Despite losing the top spot to City, Arsenal are strongly in the Premier League title race. They have a game in hand and are separated from Manchester City on goal difference.
A win at Villa Park today will see the team return temporarily to the top of the table.
Between Manchester City and Arsenal, who is your favorite to win the 2022/23 Premier League?
