Roy Keane says he has changed his mind on Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal ‘a little bit’ after they beat Manchester City 1-0 on Sunday.
After winning the Community Shield at the start of the campaign, for the first time since Arsene Wenger was in the dugout, Arsenal overcame Pep Guardiola’s side without star man Bukayo Saka.
That was also back-to-back Premier League defeats for Manchester City, which raised the question of whether the title race has now been blown wide open – Michael Owen certainly thinks so.
But whilst Roy Keane was open to changing his mind about Arsenal, he made it clear that he is still sticking with his early season prediction that Manchester City will still win the title, as he told The Overlap.
This win will seriously boost the morale at the Emirates, but it won’t have much of a dent on the Premier League table because only eight games have been played.
This Man City side can go on a stupid winning run in a flash, and given that they have that in their locker, Keane is still sticking to his start-of-the-season guns.
Roy Keane on Premier League title race
“No,” said Keane about changing his mind about where he was with Man City at the start of the season. “It’s probably the worst I have seen Man City play. They are definitely having a difficult spell.
“Poor game. Arsenal hung in there and may just about deserved it. Cagey. I certainly wouldn’t be writing Man City off. When you look at the two league games last year, obviously, Man City were so far ahead. Definitely progress for Arsenal.
“But I wouldn’t change my mind, in terms of who I think would win the league, because I would stick with Manchester City.
On if the weekend result changes his mind on Arsenal: “A little bit. They won the Community Shield. They won this one. That will only give Arsenal that bit of belief. And they won it without Saka. All along, they have been saying that Saka is a huge player for them. Man City are missing players.”
90+ points will still be needed
Yes, it’s a huge statement from Mikel Arteta’s side that they have finally managed to beat Man City in the league.
But, at the end of the day, you just know when the awards are going to be handed out that Guardiola and his players will be either collecting them or close by.
For Arsenal to win the Premier League title, they probably know that they have to aim for 90+ points because that has been the bar that has been set by the Treble-winners over the years.
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