Former Liverpool star dismisses Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes

Former Liverpool star Dietmar Hamann is backing the Reds to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title this season, dismissing Arsenal’s chances of glory.

After beating Southampton on Saturday Manchester City returned to the top of the table, one point ahead of Liverpool and already five clear of Arsenal.

The big game of the weekend saw the Gunners hosting Liverpool, a game which finished 2-2 and allowed City to gain an advantage in the early stages of the title race.

Hamann remains confident in his former club, believing that the season-ending injury for Rodri will ultimately cost Manchester City, while he simply does not fancy Arsenal’s chances of outlasting their two chief rivals.

‘We know they’ve got a lot of quality still in their team,’ Hamann told talkSPORT of Manchester City. ‘The question will be, can they last a season without Rodri? Because he’s the heartbeat of the team.

‘If you haven’t got the defensive stability, if you haven’t got the balance in your team, it also affects the offensive play of your club.

‘This is why I slightly favour Liverpool. I think Liverpool have got a great chance this season to go one better.

‘Arsenal played out of their skin the last two seasons, couldn’t get the job done, so I don’t think they will be a title winner this season. I think it’ll be between City and Liverpool.

‘And at the moment, I’ve got to say I slightly favour Liverpool because of the absence of Rodri.’

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was certainly not giving up on the title race after the draw with Liverpool on Sunday.

‘I’m very proud of the team especially with the situation that we are going through at the moment, and probably cannot imagine,’ Arteta told a post-match press conference.

‘But overall I think, especially first half, it was a total domination, we were really, really good, really sharp, really efficient, really determined and the result should’ve been bigger.

‘Without conceding anything, basically we gave two goals away which is the disappointing part. And the fact we couldn’t see the game off, especially looking at ourselves, the two things that we didn’t do particular well and obviously about other aspects.

‘Well you don’t want to be in that position, you want to be five points ahead but this is where we are, and again the team it’s alive, the team wants it. I feel it every single day, the players that cannot play they are upset that they are not playing, the ones that get injured, the ones that are there in a good moment, things will turn up and we’ll be in a better place but we are certainly there.’