Bukayo Saka sends defiant message to Arsenal squad as Premier League title race with Manchester City heats up

Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has said that the Gunners remain in control of their Premier League title race with Manchester City.

Second-placed City bagged an emphatic 4-1 win over Southampton on Saturday (8 April). The next day, Liverpool held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw at Anfield, which allowed City to cut down the deficit to six points. Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand over Mikel Arteta’s men and also face the league leaders at home later this month.

That means Manchester City will win the Premier League if they win their remaining nine games. Saka, though, said that the ball is still very much in the Gunners’ court, telling the club’s website:

“As players, we really want to do this. We know that everything is in our hands, and we just have to keep going game by game. If we win these last eight games and get some good results, the title can be ours, so we just have to stay focused. It’s a long season, and we have to be consistent all the way through, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

The Englishman continued:

“I wouldn’t say (the Man City game) is the final, but maybe the semi-final because it’s massive, and so important as both teams are fighting at the top. It’s really close so it’ll be a massive game.”

Arsenal travel to the Etihad for a potential title-decider on April 26. The Gunners have not won there in over eight years across competitions. Their last win (2-0) over City in the Premier League came in January 2015.

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Laura Woods does not believe losing Premier League title to Manchester City would make Arsenal's season a failure

Gunners fan and talkSPORT host Laura Woods has presented an interesting take on this year’s title race. She said that while winning the league title would be a dream come true, finishing second would not be the end of the world.

Woods said that success is relative as she reminded everyone how no one expected the London club to go toe-to-toe with City. She said on talkSPORT:

“Of course, I will be disappointed (if the Gunners lose), massively disappointed, but they were supposed to fail every minute, after the first few games, and at Christmas. Come the New Year, Arsenal were supposed to fall away, and they haven’t. They have proved everyone wrong. I don’t like these kind of binary arguments about if you win the league or if is a failure.”

She added:

“I think there is so much more you can celebrate in football, so for me, no. If you’re asking me as an Arsenal fan, do I remember the 2022-23 season, I will say yes, it was amazing.”

It has been 19 years since the Gunners’ last Premier League win. They won the Premier League without tasting a single defeat (26 wins, 12 draws) in the 2003-04 season, winning the only Golden Premier League in history.