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Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James says he still hasn't changed his mind about Arsenal this season, believing the Gunners won't win the Premier League due to a lack of experience.
Arsenal dropped points against Sunderland on Saturday, with Manchester City and Liverpool then playing each other a day later. It was Pep Guardiola's men who took the chance to close the gap, winning 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium in convincing fashion.
"I’d be foolish to say, no, I haven’t changed my mind about Arsenal with them at the top of the table," James told Ask Gamblers. "There’s something about Arsenal I really like.
"I like the numbers. They’ve improved in so many different areas. In the past, if they conceded, it was a weird stat for the majority of last season, that they would not score in the second half if they conceded in the first half.
"It was a really weird stat, and I just questioned what was going on in the changing room. Now that’s changed to the point that they’ve even come back from losing positions at half-time to win games.
"You look at the Man City game where they were losing 1-0 early on, and they, if it had not been for some ridiculously good defending, would have won that game at the Emirates. So there are improvements there.
"The test for them, as I’m sure many people will say, is now that they’re top of the table, how are they going to handle that?"
While James was full of praise for the way that Arteta has his side playing this season, he still doesn't think it has enough to get over the line.
"There’s another caveat to this," he continued. "Last season they played 14 Champions League games which meant they played 14 Premier League games before those fixtures and they only won four and it appeared that there was a definite focus on the Champions League.
"Maybe that was because Liverpool started to run away with the title race quite early, but there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on the Champions League more so than the Premier League, especially towards the end of the season, where there was a chance of obviously getting to the final.
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"Now it’s how Mikel Arteta handles the balance of the Champions League and the Premier League, especially when you’re leading the Premier League.
"I don’t think Arsenal will win the title if that’s an answer, even if they’ve started well. I think the likes of Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool will go into the last weeks of the season, if not the last game of the season, and possibly decide the title race.
"But it will be interesting with Arteta to see how he handles qualification for the Champions League and maintain that top position in the Premier League, and I don’t think they’ll be able to do it."
Liverpool.com says: Arsenal hasn't got over the line before but it will never have a better chance. It plays Spurs next and depending on what happens there, the narrative will change again. There is a long way to go.
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