Danny Murphy names key advantage Arsenal have over Man City in Premier League title race

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy (Picture: YouTube)

Danny Murphy believes that Arsenal have one key advantage over Manchester City in this season’s Premier League title race.

The Gunners made it five straight league wins in a row at the weekend as Declan Rice ’s brace saw them secure a hard-fought 3-2 away win at Bournemouth.

And Mikel Arteta ’s side now have the luxury of a six-point lead at the top of the table after Manchester City dropped two points against Chelsea thanks to Enzo Fernandez’s injury-time equaliser at the Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal have finished runners-up in the league in each of the last three seasons, but are now perfectly poised to end that streak and win their first title since 2004.

While Arsenal’s home form has been the bedrock of their impressive points tally, the Gunners also boast the best away record, an impressive feat given they have already had to visit four of the five teams directly beneath them in the table so far this season.

Arteta’s side do still have to travel to face City at the Etihad Stadium in April, a fixture that could huge ramifications in the title race.

But by contrast, Pep Guardiola’s side still have to navigate challenging away fixtures against Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea over the second half of the season.

Arsenal moved six points clear at the top of the table after the weekend’s games (Picture: Getty)

And Murphy is confident that City’s difficult fixture list will hand Arsenal the upper hand in the title race.

‘You can argue City have great strength and depth, but right now, you’d be amazed if Arsenal threw it away this time, I would,’ he told talkSPORT .

‘They (Arsenal) have played a lot of the big boys away from home; only City are left.’

Speaking about Guardiola’s side, Murphy had other concerns, adding: ‘When I watch City, even in the Chelsea game, they do brilliant things but then all of a sudden there are gaps all over the place.

Arsenal boast an advantageous fixture list compared to Manchester City (Picture: Getty)

‘They have been on a good run, so you can’t discount them, but defensively, you feel that you can score against them. When you watch them, they give up chances and Arsenal generally don’t – they have the best defence.’

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By contrast, Murphy believes that Arsenal’s defensive strength and supreme strength and depth will be one of their greatest assets in the final months of the season.

‘(Noni) Madueke in that first half (against Bournemouth) was on it and ready to go and causing absolute chaos,’ he added.

‘Obviously Saka will play ahead of him, but he’s making the manager think, ‘Well actually, I can give Saka a rest, he doesn’t have to play every game’.

‘And all of a sudden on the left, who is his first choice now? Eze scored a hat-trick against Tottenham less than a month ago, and he hasn’t had a minute in the last couple of games. This is the most powerful squad.’

City will look to put the pressure back on Arsenal with a victory over Brighton on Wednesday evening, with the league leaders facing a potential banana skin at home to the defending champions, Liverpool, 24 hours later.

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