Former Liverpool player RIDICULES Arsenal title hopes

Liverpool went 11 points clear of Manchester City with their 2-0 win over the four-time reigning champions at Anfield.

It was a confirmation of everything that we had come to expect over the past month - Liverpool's inevitability and perfect balance as well as Manchester City just not quite being all that any more.

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What hasn't really been spoken about in the aftermath is that Liverpool's lead at the top of the Premier League only grew by a point due to Arsenal and Chelsea's victories this weekend.

Liverpool lead Arsenal in second by nine points.

But Arsenal haven't, up to this point, been treated as serious title contenders. They had a nervous start to the season which saw them off the pace - and for all of City's issues, Arsenal have literally only just caught up to their points tally.

And in an exclusive interview with Sunday World, former Liverpool man Stan Collymore has taken aim at Mikel Arteta for his side's lacklustre start to the season.

"I think it's time Mikel Arteta took some serious heat," said Collymore. "You look at what Pep Guardiola has won in recent years and he was not immune from criticism in recent weeks when things have gone wrong for Man City."

"Then you look at Arteta and he doesn't get any criticism. The way he speaks in press conferences, you would think his body of work includes six Champions League wins and the last five Premier League."

"They brought in Riccardo Calafiori, they have Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in midfield, they have creativity with Kai Havertz and it looked like they were ready to challenge, yet they are a long way behind Liverpool already."

"So I would say watch this space with Arsenal. If they are in the top three, but a mile off Liverpool and Man City, I wonder whether this will be Mikel Arteta's last chance. I could see a change of direction from Arsenal in that scenario.

"The Arsenal board have given him a long time to get it right, but one FA Cup isn't good enough for the amount of investment they have put into it."

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal is not Arne Slot's Liverpool

Collymore makes a very interesting point. Pep Guardiola has earnt an incredibly long leash due to what he has done at Manchester City, but no one is shying away from saying how bad his team have been over the past month and the responsibility he has to take for that.

Yet Arsenal have been a relative non-factor in the title race and it's like Mikel Arteta is doing exactly what he was supposed to.

Arsenal were meant to challenge for the title this season. This was the season where their failures to push Man City over the past two years were finally exorcised.

But Mikel Arteta was never Jurgen Klopp and he is very clearly not Arne Slot either.

And this is Arne Slot who has signed basically no one for his Liverpool side, whilst Mikel Arteta still seems unhappy five years into building the squad he wanted.

We'll see how the rest of the season goes, but don't get it twisted - Arsenal are no title challengers.

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