Paul Merson rates Arsenal's chances to win the Premier League this season after 2-0 Aston Villa loss
Former Arsenal striker Paul Merson reckons the Gunners might have squandered their chance to win the Premier League following their 2-0 home loss to Aston Villa on Sunday (April 14).
With Manchester City beating Luton Town 5-1 at home a day earlier, Pep Guardiola's side went two points clear at the top after 32 games. Both Liverpool and the Gunners had the chance to take over at the summit but failed.
While the Reds lost 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace, the focus shifted to the Gunners, who would have gone a point clear with a win. Instead, Mikel Arteta's side conceded twice in the final six minutes at the Emirates to stay second.
Leon Bailey opened the scoring in the 84th minute before Ollie Watkins made sure of the three points three minutes later. The defeat could be a body blow to the Gunners' hopes of a first league title in two decades.
Merson reckons likewise, saying on Sky Sports Premier League:
"It aint' over, but they've got to play all three of those teams (Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United)."
Arsenal have a difficult run-in, with their next six games being Wolverhamton Wanderers (away), Chelsea (home), Tottenham Hotspur (away), Bournemouth (home), Manchester United (away) and Everton (home).
"It was a painful loss" - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta reckons the manner of defeat to Villa was 'disappointing' after producing an impressive first half.
The Spaniard rued the loss of momentum after the break and bemoaned his team's sloppiness, especially conceding the two late goals, which put paid to their victory hopes.
"We're obviously very disappointed with the result, especially with the way we have been performing," he said (as per BBC). "The first half was one of the best halves we have played this season against a top team. We should've scored three, four, five, we haven't scored.
"In the second half, the game changes, we struggle to gain momentum, we struggle to get the ball into certain areas and we were very sloppy with the ball and the game was there with not much happening. A few corners for them, and then we concede a very poor goal and then, on top of that, we were chasing it, and then we concede another one, and it was a painful loss."
The Gunners are next in action at deposed Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday (April 17) for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal. The first leg at the Emirates last week ended 2-2.