'I predicted Arsenal's title race wobble - but here's why they should not panic' | OneFootball

The Gunners were once eight points clear, that could become just two this weekend

That is according to top-flight winner Alan Shearer, who lifted the Premier League crown with Blackburn and was part of failed title bids with Newcastle.

The Gunners' have seen their title lead shrink from eight points to five, and have now played one extra game than rivals Manchester City after letting a two-goal lead slip at bottom-of-the-table Wolves on Wednesday night.

That lead could be just two when Arsenal walk out at Tottenham on Sunday afternoon, should City beat Newcastle on Saturday evening. Shearer saw this coming, and says it is clear to see that the pressure is taking its toll on the inexperienced Gunners.

"Cracks are starting to show now for Arsenal," he told Betfair. "Being 2-0 up and then being pegged back as they were by the team bottom of the Premier League in Wolves it doesn’t look good. I pretty much expected this. I never thought they'd run away with it. Very rarely do teams do that, particularly with teams that haven't won it for a long time like Arsenal.

"I get it and understand it but that would be a concern, and whether they like it or not, Arsenal probably haven't liked people going on about them bottling it, them chucking it away and the pressure being on them.

Arsenal collapsed in the rain and swirling wind

Jacob King/PA Wire

"Well, they won't like what'll happen in the next few days now, because the noise will get a lot louder. There’ll be a lot more of that now because of what happened on Wednesday, and you can imagine how loud it'll be if Tottenham beat them on Sunday as well.

"But I think for the neutral, it's brilliant. I think it sets up a title race which is going to be exciting between now and the end of the season, but yeah, you would start to think a bit more that cracks are showing for Arsenal, certainly more than what you did beforehand."

Despite the accusations of yet another "bottle job", Shearer insists there is reason for Arsenal to panic just yet. With a game at north London rivals Tottenham to come on Sunday, it is the perfect opportunity to hit back immediately.

He continued: "The Premier League title is also still in Arsenal’s hands because if they win every game, they win the league. Technically it's in both of their hands and everyone was always going to look to that game, at the Etihad in April. That was always going to be a key game anyway, and it obviously clearly is.

"But I think I'm right in saying they've only won something like two of their last seven games and that's a massive concern. Having said that, after what happened on Wednesday evening, then I'd be looking to the next game and I would actually love it to be a huge one and that’s what they have with it being a north London derby, that's exactly what it is at Tottenham, with them also having a new manager, and you put all that together, then it becomes huge."

City players would have watched and thought ‘here we go, it's our time, let's take advantage of that at the weekend’

Alan Shearer

Shearer was part of the expensively assembled Blackburn team which won the Premier League in 1995, beating Manchester United by a single point. But their lead was once much bigger, and three defeats and a draw in their final six games almost let United in.

"City play Newcastle, whose record at City is dreadful, as we know. So yeah, there are still going to be twists and turns in between now and the end of the season. I think there'll be a time where City will be top, and where Arsenal will be top, and I guess it's probably going to come down to that game in April.

"I do think Man City's result at Anfield was a game-changer in terms of City going for the league, because if they hadn't have got that, it might have been very different. They wouldn't have put so much pressure on Arsenal."