Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has said his team has a big psychological advantage over Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
Ahead of midweek fixtures, the Gunners are top of the table, level on points with Liverpool but ahead on goal difference, with City one point behind.
But crucially, Pep Guardiola’s men have a game in hand over their rivals and remain favourites to win a fourth consecutive title.
The outlook of the title race changed drastically two weeks ago when City hammered Luton 5-1 to go top and both Liverpool and Arsenal failed to beat Crystal Palace and Aston Villa respectively.
Liverpool defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold, then claimed Arsenal’s loss was probably caused by playing after their opponents.
But this week it’s Arsenal who will play first against Chelsea on Tuesday night, before Liverpool’s Merseyside derby at Everton on Wednesday, and then City’s trip to Brighton on Thursday.
Arteta was asked about playing first and he replied:
“That helps, that really helps because then you are winning your matches and making the margins smaller and smaller.
“That’s the only thing we can do at the moment because it’s not in our hands.
“Winning as a consequence of that and bringing the margins shorter and that’s something which is positive.”
Arsenal play first of the three title rivals in two of the remaining four gameweeks and have the benefit of not playing last in any of them.
