Exclusive | Bacary Sagna on Arsenal’s title challenge: ‘You can’t play brilliantly every week; you can’t always meet the expectations of fans in terms of style of play.’ | OneFootball

Get French Football News had the opportunity to have a chat with former France, Arsenal and Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna. In this part, Sagna reviews his former clubs’ season so far and their prospects for winning the Premier League title.

On Arsenal and City’s season so far, how do you see the Premier League title race playing out?

I think that Arsenal are fulfilling their potential and the season they’re having is the natural progression from the past three to four campaigns. They’ve found a stability, an energy, a synergy in the team. They have found their cruising speed, which enables them to be competitive, whether it is in the Premier League, the Champions League, or the cups. They have expanded the squad to be able to be competitive, as that was what caused them a problem in the past – it was the number of injuries at key moments.

I’m thinking of William Saliba. When Saliba was injured last season, it was a big problem. There was a lack of stability defensively and it seems that now defensively they are solid, and that even in difficult matches, they manage to still come out of the game with a point even when they’re not at their best. That is the difference between this year for now, and previous years. When it’s difficult, they still manage to win. It’s the mark of the big teams, of champions. You can’t play brilliantly every week; you can’t always meet the expectations of fans in terms of style of play. There are a lot of games, and there are a lot of different competitions; players will start to feel a certain fatigue. But despite everything, they manage to keep winning, to deal with the pressure put on them by Manchester City, by Aston Villa and other teams. 

As for City, I think that after being so successful for all these years, it’s normal that they experience a bit of a drop. They set the bar so high that when they don’t match those standards, everyone is shocked. But after winning so many trophies over four to five years, after rebuilding the team – because it is a rebuild – they are gradually becoming competitive, today they’re second and not too far off, so the league isn’t a done deal. There isn’t a lot between the teams and it would only take one slip-up by Arsenal for the pressure to return. So there is still lots to play for.

Bacary Sagna was speaking to GFFN courtesy of talkSPORT Bet Online Slots

GFFN | Jeremy Smith