“That doesn’t happen” – Mikel Arteta vows not to gift-wrap the title for Liverpool this Sunday
Mikel Arteta continues to rage against the dying of the light, with Arsenal now having only a mathematical possibility of stopping Liverpool from winning the Premier League this season.
The title race could even be officially ended on Easter Sunday if the Gunners lose at Ipswich and the Reds then beat Leicester, which’d leave a 16-point gap between the top two with just five matches remaining.
Even if the north Londoners win tomorrow, defeat to Crystal Palace in midweek or victory for Arne Slot’s side at home to Tottenham Hotspur next weekend would finish the job – of course, that’s if we take all three points at the King Power Stadium.
Arteta determined to delay Liverpool title party
Arteta has vowed that Arsenal won’t gift-wrap the Premier League for Liverpool on Sunday by coming unstuck at Portman Road, with the Tractor Boys facing what seems an equally forlorn task to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
When addressing the possibility of the Reds being crowned champions tomorrow, the Gunners boss chimed (via The Independent): “We will make sure that we win the game against Ipswich, and that [LFC winning the league] doesn’t happen.”
Arteta clutching at straws with Liverpool closing in on number 20
Publicly the Spaniard may feel compelled to declare that his team will continue pushing until the title is mathematically out of reach, but deep down he must know that all of the north Londoners’ eggs are now in the Champions League basket.
Even if Arsenal claim six points out of six on offer this week, Liverpool simply need to do the same in order to clinch their 20th league title – basically, all we have to do is match our closest’ challengers points tally in the next two games, whatever that number might be.
Conor Bradley can barely hide his excitement at the thought of imminently becoming a Premier League champion, while his teammate Dominik Szoboszlai frankly isn’t bothered about what the Gunners do from hereon.
Arteta must be dreading the thought of his side giving us a guard of honour at Anfield on 11 May, having already done so when we played them towards the backend of the 2019/20 campaign after the title had been officially secured.
The Reds must still be professional and finish a job which is almost but not entirely done, and last weekend’s scare against West Ham should serve as sufficient warning not to take Leicester lightly tomorrow, even though the Foxes are all but mathematically relegated. In fact, their fate could be sealed by kick-off if both West Ham and Wolves have won in the meantime.
No matter what Arsenal do from here, Liverpool have their fate firmly in their own hands. Let’s try to dispel any last lingering morsels of doubt as swiftly as possible!
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