An orgy of admiration over Liverpool-City but Arsenal won’t implode. They’re relishing this race

IT IS a limited sample, but every Arsenal fan I know is a pessimist when it comes to the title race.

Particularly my mate Kevin, who has had a season ticket for most of our adult lives. I asked him today if he believed. He said Manchester City would finish top and Liverpool would be second. ‘I’d be disappointed if we didn’t hold third,’ he said.

He quoted all the usual reasons to be gloomy at me. Arsenal have to go to City, Manchester United and Spurs — ‘not to mention Molineux and the Amex,’ he said — before the end of the season. They have a tougher run-in than their two rivals, who have bigger and deeper squads.

City and Liverpool are so relentless that Arsenal can’t afford to drop points anywhere, he said, and he can’t see that happening. City and Liverpool know how to get it done, he said. They have both won titles in the last five years. They have got the muscle memory that Arsenal lack.

Some of the pessimism is self-preservation. Arsenal have scar tissue. Last season, they were still top after 32 games and, until mid-April, there were few signs of Mikel Arteta’s side cracking. Then they had a few draws and got demolished by City at the Etihad on April 26. They finished the season as runners-up, five points behind Pep Guardiola’s side.

In fact, amid the orgy of admiration that greeted the performances of Liverpool and City in the aftermath of their breath-taking 1-1 draw at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are only two runners in the three-horse race that this season’s struggle for the title has become.

I heard former England goalkeeper David James on the radio yesterday morning saying that the title was between Liverpool and City — he may not be an entirely dispassionate observer, having played for both of them — and Arsenal were just there to provide some colour. His is not an uncommon view.

So I had to take another look at the league table, just to check. Sure enough, it told me Arsenal were top. And I read something a newspaper colleague had written about the Liverpool-City clash. City won the first half, he observed. Liverpool won the second half. Arsenal won the game.

Arsenal were the winners because Liverpool and City dropped points and left Arsenal top. They were the winners because City lost Ederson to injury midway through the match. He is unlikely to face Arsenal at the end of the month. They were the winners because their rivals fought each other to a standstill.

They were the winners because Jurgen Klopp worked another miracle with a stretched squad and a team packed with youngsters that still managed to over-run the Treble-winners and surely one day, one match is going to be a miracle too far.

And, anyway, this season there is a different feel about Arsenal as they gear themselves up for the final push.

Last season, it was a surprise that they were in the shake-up at all. Many had wondered if they would even contend for the top four. This season, they have always felt like the real deal.

They strengthened wisely and well in the summer with the purchases of Declan Rice from West Ham and Kai Havertz from Chelsea. Rice is a class act and as this season has begun to quicken, his influence has grown. He has stepped up. And so have his team-mates.

Arsenal have advantages over City and Liverpool, too. Yes, there is an argument that their run-in is harder but they are not chasing honours on three fronts like their rivals, who will both play in the FA Cup quarterfinals this weekend as well as their European commitments. If Arteta (below) and his team do not get past Porto in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie at the Emirates this evening, it will be a blow to their pride but it will leave them free to pour everything into their bid to win the Premier League. There are 19 days between the Porto tie and their next match, the trip to face City in Manchester. Nor are they playing like a team about to implode. They are playing like a team who are relishing the race. They have won eight straight in the league since the winter break. They swept Liverpool aside in north London. They put six past Sheffield United, four past Newcastle, five past Burnley, and six past West Ham. They have dispelled the notion that they could not fashion a legitimate title challenge because they do not possess a traditional centre forward like Erling Haaland or Darwin Nunez. They have scored more goals than anyone else in the division. Their goal difference is superior to everyone else’s, too.

One last thing: Havertz was supposed to be a bust. He was supposed to be Arteta’s Achilles’ heel, a £65million waste of money. Havertz has defied those doubts. He has scored in Arsenal’s last four league games and on Saturday, when they wobbled at home to Brentford, he scored the late winner that took them to the top.

We can talk all we want about the emotion driving Klopp and Liverpool and the pedigree that underpins City but only if we accept that there are factors fuelling Arsenal, too. They have something Liverpool and City do not have. They are the underdogs and that brings both a freedom and a motivation.

They have not won the league for 20 years. They have not won the league since they left Highbury. They have not won the league since Arsene Wenger, the father of the modern Arsenal, left the club. Liverpool and City ended their own droughts some time ago. Arsenal still have all manner of demons to slay.

They might not win the league. City or Liverpool, or both, might be too strong. But Arsenal don’t feel like a side who are going to take a step back this time.

However much we want to characterise Arteta’s side as the team who weren’t there, there are more than two of them in this race. There is a third man.