Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has pinpointed two fixtures that he believes will cost Arsenal the Premier League title.
Heading into the weekend with seven league games remaining, it's the Gunners who led the pack, level on points with Liverpool but ahead on goal difference. The title race is a tight one, with reigning champions Manchester City also in close contention.
Despite Mikel Arteta's men currently holding the reins, Ferdinand predicts that Arsenal will suffer two more defeats before the season concludes, costing them the title. At this stage of the competition, any loss of points could be detrimental to their title aspirations.
While forecasting the rest of the campaign for TNT Sports, Ferdinand predicted a 2-1 defeat for the Gunners at the hands of local rivals Tottenham, followed by another loss against United in the second last game of the season. The former Red Devil anticipates Erik ten Hag's side will secure a 3-2 victory over Arteta's squad.
After predicting the outcomes of the remaining games for their title competitors, if things pan out as Ferdinand expects, Arsenal will finish second with 86 points. Liverpool will end up third with the same points but a lesser goal difference, leaving Pep Guardiola's team as champions for the fourth consecutive time, reports the Mirror.
Arteta is fully focused on their upcoming Sunday afternoon clash against Aston Villa at the Emirates. Despite Arsenal playing after both City and Liverpool in the weekend's final game, he isn't placing too much importance on this.
During his pre-match press conference, the Spanish manager stated: "We will know the results but we'll still have our duty to win our game which is the only thing that we can control.
Arsenal players dejected
Ferdinand believes the Gunners will suffer two defeats in their final seven games (Image: David Klein/Sportimage)
"That's happened a few times already and it's going to happen again in the next few weeks, so we'll just focus on what we can do, what we can control and make sure that we perform like we have to do against a really good side to try to beat them."
When questioned about how his squad is coping with the title race pressure, Arteta dismissed any suggestions of nerves creeping in as the season draws to a close.
"I think it is just motivation," he said. "I think they've lived it already and they are super excited about what we are doing and the way the team is performing, winning matches and they want more. We know the task, the challenge ahead of us and how good we have to be to win it, but we're going to try."
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