Manchester City sit nine points off Premier League leaders Arsenal
Alan Shearer has outlined the blueprint for Manchester City to beat Arsenal and win the Premier League.
The former Newcastle United striker highlighted the bravery and belief from Southampton during their FA Cup quarter-final, as the Saints knocked Mikel Arteta’s side out of the competition.
Within two matches, the Gunners have gone from quadruple chasers to the top-flight title race and Champions League their only remaining options for silverware.
City bossed Arsenal at Wembley on the eve of the international break to win the first piece of silverware available, after Nico O’Reilly’s double was enough to win the Carabao Cup final 2-0.
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They followed up their cup win with an emphatic win over Liverpool to book their place in the FA Cup semi-final.
The Gunners return to action on the back of their 2-1 defeat at the Championship opposition in midweek when they travel to Sporting CP in the Champions League. They return to top-flight action when Bournemouth visit on April 11.
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Shearer hailed Southampton’s approach, he said: “They were brave, they were definitely brave, definitely had belief. They fed off the crowd, had a great energy.
“I was really impressed with how they approached it, the manager came out and said, ‘we’re going to have a gameplan, we think we can get at them and there may be one or two weaknesses’ which was brave to think it, let alone, say it.
“He did, I thought they were absolutely outstanding, a great watch and brilliant to witness.”
City face a nine-point deficit to restore their place at the summit of English football. That could be reduced to six points if they win their game in hand and if they beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, it could be three going into the final five matches of the season.
Micah Richards said: “I don’t think teams in the Premier League play like that. Arsenal wouldn’t be that high, it’s almost like they went into the game thinking they can turn up.
“They have loads of ball players, we have to give a shoutout to Dowman, on another day he scores a couple of goals but couldn’t get his touch right in the last bit of it but when you look at Arsenal and think Dowman is the best player, the senior players need to step up now.”
Lineker added: “The next two games are massive, they need to steady the ship. They have a huge lead in the Premier League, nine points, City have a game [in hand] and play Arsenal at the Etihad, so it could go down to three but it has to. It’s squeaky bum time.”
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