1. Are Arsenal title favourites?
IT’S DIFFICULT TO remember another season when the Premier League title race felt so open at Christmas. Chelsea and Man United are weaker than they have been in a long time, meaning Arsenal and Man City are the two teams most people fancy to win the title.
The Gunners highlighted their title credentials in a 2-1 win over City at the Emirates on Monday night, and the performance was enough to convince Sky pundit Jamie Carragher that they are now favourites for the title.
However, Arsene Wenger’s teams in the recent past have a history of capitulation in pressurised circumstances at a certain point of the season, and they were probably somewhat fortunate on Monday, as they handed Man City the initiative late on and sat back deep in their own half.
And of course, leaders Leicester cannot be ruled out after their impressive defeat of Everton on Saturday, though whether they have the squad depth to continue their fine form over the course of a season remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, if City were to prevail, they would become the first English side in over 30 years to lose five games before Christmas and subsequently triumph.
2. The Yaya Toure enigma continues
If City are to continue to be thought of as serious title contenders, they surely can’t afford to keep relying on unreliable players.
24-year-old Eliaquim Mangala has had a turbulent start to his City career, and tonight was no exception, as he looked nervy and played a poor pass in the lead up to Arsenal’s second goal.
Furthermore, Yaya Toure’s performance epitomised City’s frustrating inconsistency. Much of the game passed Toure by and part of the reason why Mesut Ozil had so much space was down to the 32-year-old midfielder’s failure to track his German counterpart.
Yet in the final few minutes, Toure miraculously came alive, as he tends to do sporadically, scoring a brilliant goal and starting to dominate the play as Arsenal held on ultimately.
For all his moments of brilliance, Manuel Pellegrini must ask himself whether Toure is a luxury the club can continue to indulge.
3. Ozil form on a par with Mahrez and Vardy
Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have been rightly acclaimed for their scintillating attacking performances this season, but Mesut Ozil hasn’t been far behind the Leicester duo.
The German international had another influential performance in a big game on Monday night, as he claimed his 14th and 15th assists of the season to condemn City to another defeat.
Ozil currently has the highest assists-per-game ratio in Premier League history (0.45 — taken into account players with 20 assists or more).
Despite it only being the halfway point of the season, only five Premier League players have ever managed more assists than the former Real Madrid player in a single season, while he is within reach of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry’s record of 20.
Therefore, if Ozil can maintain this level for the remainder of the season, he could very well turn out to be the key figure in an Arsenal title success.
