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Arsenal are continuing to build towards a potential Premier League title triumph, following a win over Sunderland, with the Gunners hopeful of keeping their lead over Manchester City.
Former Premier League star Danny Murphy believes that it'll be "game over" in the title race if Manchester City fail to beat Liverpool, due to the gap Arsenal have built at the top of the table. It comes after the Gunners managed to pick up another important three points in the league, this time at the Emirates Stadium against Sunderland.
Martin Zubimendi's goal on the brink of half-time gave the home side a lead, before Viktor Gyokeres scored a brace to seal the win. That built a nine-point gap at the top, though Man City have a game in hand the following day, taking on Liverpool in a huge clash at Anfield.
Despite some inconsistency from Arne Slot's side, the Reds are still capable of causing some problems, having taken four points from Arsenal this season. Now, Mikel Arteta will be hoping that they can return the favour by getting one over his old mentor, Pep Guardiola.
For Murphy, if Liverpool do manage to pick up a result against City, then it will be curtains for the former champions in the race for the title. Speaking on BBC's Match of the Day, he said: "You have to say, since they lost to [Manchester] United, Arsenal, they've won four on the spin in all comps.
"They're in the League Cup final, they finished top of the Champions League group, it doesn't look like a side that's nervous. They've got good competition for places, they can win games when they don't play very well, they're the best team at the moment.
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"If [Manchester] City don't win tomorrow [against Liverpool], you've got to say it's game over I think." Alan Shearer nodded in agreement with that statement before giving his own opinion.
The former striker said: "I think there's so many people waiting for a slip up that when you see a performance like that today, and that's fine, they don't have to be brilliant every game, they just have to find ways to win games and they've done that today.
"So I don't think from their side, there's no panic at all."
The response from Arsenal has certainly been one to admire, as Arteta continues to push on with his squad, even with some key absences as of late. Regardless of the result from the Man City game on Sunday, Arsenal simply need to keep doing their own job to get themselves over the line.
Brentford are up next in midweek, before the next venture in the FA Cup gets underway, though Arteta admitted he will spend some time watching City play. Speaking after the win over Sunderland, he told the press: "Yes, I'm going to have a beautiful dinner tonight.
"Tomorrow [Sunday], I start to prepare Brentford because it's going to be a really tough one and, in the meantime, for sure, I will be watching a big, big game."
Man City will play again before Arsenal feature next, on Thursday, which could see the gap either close or give an opportunity for the Gunners to widen it. Brentford won't be an easy opponent, as they climbed up to seventh in the league with an impressive win over Newcastle on Saturday.
It'll be another chance to test Arteta's title credentials, as he awaits the outcome of City's testing fixture schedule.
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