“It was true for a while because we were a young team and a young team can be up and down”.
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“I always took them seriously but when we won 5-2 over there, nobody took our performance seriously”, he said of their September success at Leicester.
“You need to be special to achieve that”.
Asked to name the players who have impressed him most this season, Silva unsurprisingly mentions Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, now unstoppable at Leicester City – but only after unexpectedly singling out a summer arrival at his own club. Everybody would love to do it every year.
As I’ve said, a draw suits both parties and both will be wary of losing it. What’s more, the teams could simply cancel each other out. The game yielded yet another goal for Olivier Giroud and another assist from Mesut Ozil, and if the in-form duo can repeat that kind of form here Arsenal will sense success, especially as City have had more than the odd struggle in defence in recent games. The character is down to consistency in life.
Defensively they look settled too and I have a feeling the Gunners are going to win. After that, we have to answer on the pitch whether we are good enough. However, he is not even included on the Arsenal bench.
“Like City, Arsenal have got away with some distinctly average results recently”. Two years ago when we won the league I played months with pain and had to have injections. “We are in a stronger position today”.
“I can not say it will never happen again because you never know, but we are in a position where we do not have to give in”.
Key Stat: Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Manchester City, winning by an aggregate score of 8-3 over those matches.
Manchester City’s previous encounter with Arsenal ended in a surprising 2-0 win for the Gunners at the Etihad last January.
Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez are in a fitness battle to feature in a match that would decide who will move three points clear of who on the table.
However, manager Manuel Pellegrini confirmed on Friday that the man nicknamed Kun, last season’s Premier League top scorer, has been training normally and is set to return at Arsenal. It’s a game of six points, to win three and to take three off a rival.
I have to say, I do like The Draw here for reasons stated above, and I’m surprised to see it priced so generously.
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Manchester United were the last team to win the league with 80 points back in 2011 but Chelsea needed 87 points to lift the trophy last season. Three Premier League titles and four FA Cup winner’s medals ensures he is among the most decorated foreign players in English football.
