Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has hinted he wouldn’t rule Arsenal out as serious contenders for the Premier League title this season.
The Gunners have made a surprisingly strong start to the campaign, winning nine out of their opening ten league matches to take them four points clear at the top of the table.
Writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside column today, Fabrizio Romano admitted that Arsenal’s fast start has surpassed their own expectations, and most fans and pundits will surely not expecting Mikel Arteta’s side to stay on top for that much longer.
Still, Richards feels this is a “different” Arsenal side who could perhaps be worth taking more seriously, though he admits that their lack of squad depth in comparison to City is what concerns him.
Speaking on Sky Sports yesterday, as quoted by the Metro, the former England international said he felt things would look very different for Arsenal if they lost just one or two key players to injury, which is not the case for Pep Guardiola with the immense squad he has at his disposal.
“Arsenal have been brilliant. This season they have been different. They’re different,” Richards said.
“The difference with Manchester City and Arsenal is City can lose a few players and play the exact same way, they can afford to rotate.
“If Arsenal lose Gabriel Jesus or Oleksandr Zinchenko to a certain degree or Thomas Partey in central midfield, all of a sudden they become a different team. But as they are now, they’re on a good run.”
Arsenal haven’t won the league since all the way back in the 2003/04 season, and they’ve not even finished in the top four for the last few years.
Still, we saw Leicester City win their first ever title in one of sport’s greatest upsets in 2015/16, while Liverpool ended a thirty-year wait for the title when they triumphed against Man City in 2019/20.
They will wine if they are all fit