Gary Neville & Paul Merson drop instant Liverpool title claims after Arsenal draw vs Man Utd | OneFootball

The title race isn’t done and dusted yet – not officially anyway – after Manchester United secured a 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Liverpool’s now 15-point lead on the Gunners (who, albeit, still have a game in hand), however, will hardly instill a sense of confidence in Mikel Arteta’s men.

As Paul Merson rightly pointed out on Sky Sports’ post-match coverage, the North London-based outfit is currently closer to fifth place (Manchester City) than their fellow title rivals.

It seems a bit far-fetched to suggest there’s a genuine risk of Arsenal dropping outside of the top four spots, but this latest result in Manchester may yet prove to be the death knell of their title ambitions.

Is the Premier League title race over?

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Merson and Gary Neville seemed to be in agreement that Arsenal had blown their last chance of keeping in the title race with the draw at the Theatre of Dreams.

The former English top-flight midfielder told Sky: “They’re too far away [from Liverpool] – Liverpool have got to lose virtually half of their football matches. They’ve lost one all season. It’s not going to happen.

“The league’s over, it’s finished!”

The former, in fairness, had already made his mind up back in February after a 1-1 draw with West Ham saw the Londoners fail to capitalise on Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville appeared to have reached a similar conclusion after the full-time whistle: “They’ve got this title. This title’s in their hands.

“At the end there, you’re thinking when it’s 1-1, they’ve not just got one hand on the trophy; the ribbons and the colours are being changed as we speak, and the engraver’s actually started to put the first ‘L’ on the trophy, which is a painful thought!”

Difficult for Arsenal to catch Liverpool now

Hypothetically, if Arsenal were to win their remaining 10 Premier League games and accrue the maximum of 30 points on offer, they could finish the campaign with a respectable 85 points.

On that basis, Liverpool, currently on 70 points, only need to win 16 points from their remaining nine league games. Potentially, only 15 may be required if we can maintain the current gulf in goal difference to the Gunners.

Of course, that’s assuming a worst-case scenario for Arne Slot’s men. The likelihood is – bearing in mind Arsenal’s ongoing injury crisis – that further points will be dropped by our title rivals in the coming weeks.

Liverpool, it seems, are very much on the home straight, and, judging by Mikel Arteta’s post-match strop, it would seem the Spaniard is of a similar mind.

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