The Reds are six points clear at the summit of the table after 21 fixtures. They stretched further clear of the Gunners last weekend after a 2-0 win at Brentford courtesy of Darwin Nunez’s stoppage-time double. Later on in the evening, Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead and were held to a draw against Aston Villa.
With a game in hand, the title is Arne Slot’s side to lose. In August, plenty tipped the Gunners to end their 21-year wait for a top-flight crown but they have to hope that Liverpool start to drop points - having lost just once all season.
The Reds play host to relegation-threatened Ipswich Town today while Arsenal make the trip to struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers. Arteta was asked about the Premier League title race at his pre-match press conference and insisted that the Gunners have to do what they’re capable of. The Emirates Stadium boss said: ”The margins are really, really small. You can see how things could’ve gone last weekend - the turning points are minimal and the gap certainly looks very different. We have to be at it, we have to do what is in our hands and there’s still a long, long way to go.”
Arteta was then asked if Liverpool will have a ‘difficult spell’. He replied: “They normally do, so we have to be there. That’s for sure.”
However, Slot is hardly getting carried away with Liverpool’s position and he knows that Ipswich will prove a tricky opponent. The Anfield head coach believes winning games in the second half of the campaign rather than in the opening period.
Slot said: “They've been a bit unlucky sometimes in the last moments of games. I've said this a few times recently that the second half of the season is always more difficult than the first half because some teams strengthen themselves during the winter break, some teams – not all of them but many teams – work with their manager for half a season and that normally leads to a team becoming better – and that's definitely the situation also for Ipswich, although they made it really difficult for us already in the first game of the season.
“But I think it's fair to say that they've improved during the first half here and that is also a compliment to Kieran McKenna that he already made it really difficult for us in the first game. I think the few games after were more difficult for them but then at a certain point they've become a very good team that makes it difficult for every team – except maybe their last game, which was an exception to the rule and maybe that was because [Manchester] City was City again.”
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