Arsenal expert Charles Watts has offered his view on whether Manchester City or Liverpool are the Gunners' biggest threat to their hopes of ending a 21-year Premier League title drought.
A few slip-ups from both Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola's teams have allowed Liverpool to build up an unassailable advantage at the top of the Premier League table, eight points clear of the champions and nine better off than Arsenal in fourth.
At least one of Man City or Liverpool will drop points in Sunday's blockbuster encounter at Anfield, though, prior to which Arsenal can leapfrog Guardiola's men in the table with just a point away to London rivals West Ham United on Saturday evening.
Liverpool were on the cusp of suffering their first away loss of the Arne Slot era at Southampton last weekend, but a second-half brace from Mohamed Salah completed a 3-2 comeback win, their 10th from 12 Premier League games under their new manager.
Watts previously said that he was paying more attention to the gap to Man City rather than Liverpool, and speaking to Sports Mole, he admitted that his stance had changed slightly, saying: "I think I've certainly paid a little bit more attention to the gap to Liverpool now. It is big and, you know, it would have been a huge bonus for Arsenal if Liverpool dropped points to Southampton, because no one would have predicted it. You know, going into the weekend, it was just, you saw who Liverpool were playing, it was like, that's guaranteed three points.
"If they'd have dropped points there, it would have been a massive, massive bonus for Arsenal. It wasn't to be, it was close. Southampton certainly did their best to gift wrap Liverpool a bit of an early Christmas present with some of those goals. I still do look at Man City, my eyes are immediately drawn to the gap to Man City and the fact Arsenal are only one point behind them now, it makes you feel pretty positive, but you've got to take Liverpool very, very seriously. They're a winning machine at the moment. They're just getting the job done.
"I think the fact that they didn't play that well against Southampton at the weekend, but they still managed to find a win, I know it's cliche, but that's what the good sides do, isn't it? It's what title winning sides do. They win when they don't play well and they didn't play well and they got themselves over the line. So you can look at it on that hand, or you can look at it this hand and say, well, they got very, very lucky with some of the goals they can see that they were given. Is that luck going to run out at some point?"
Watts "cannot see" City beating Liverpool after Spurs thumping
While Liverpool produced a stellar turnaround at St Mary's last weekend, Man City were condemned to a horrific fifth straight loss in all tournaments at home to Tottenham Hotspur, who astonishingly put four past Guardiola's team without reply at the Etihad.
That loss marked the first time in Guardiola's City career that his side had lost a home game by four or more goals, and the Citizens suffered another unwanted first in midweek, becoming the first side to blow a three-goal lead in the final 15 minutes of the Champions League match in a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord.
Not since 2022 have the reigning champions lost to Liverpool, but Watts cannot envisage City leaving Anfield with anything to show for it, saying: "It's a huge game this weekend, isn't it. It's absolutely massive at Anfield. Liverpool got a chance really to all but put City out of the title race. I think if Liverpool win, go 11 points clear of City with the problems City have and how easy they seem to be to play against at the moment without Rodri, without [Mateo] Kovacic, it's tough to see City coming back from that.
"Even this great Man City that we're talking about, it's tough to see them coming back from that. So I think for City, it's a must win game at the weekend for them. They really want to put themselves back in the title race. They've got to go to Anfield, show what they're all about and win. But I can't see them doing it. I can't. I look at that Spurs game, Spurs were clinical, and we know that Spurs have got a bit of a sort of hoodoo sign over Manchester City. They always perform well against them and cause them problems on the counter-attack.
"But it was so easy for Spurs after that first 10 minutes. They just cut through them at will. Could it have been more than four? Just even the last goal, how easily [Timo] Werner got past [Kyle] Walker. You just don't see that with Manchester City. And it's happening all over the pitch at the moment. Physically, they just don't look how they used to look. You can run past them. You can get at them really, really easily. You're not constantly penned in your final third anymore against this City side.
"It's just tough to see them going to Anfield and winning at the moment. You can't rule it out because it's City, but it's a difficult one. So Liverpool firmly in command of this title race. It is theirs to lose, even at this early stage of the season."
Could Salah bombshell comments derail Liverpool's title charge?
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Salah's heroics against Southampton became quickly forgotten when he gave a bombshell interview to reporters after the St Mary's success, in which he claimed that he was "more out than in" of Liverpool as he awaits an offer of a new contract.
The 32-year-old can leave the Merseyside giants for nothing when his current terms expire in 2025 and is free to discuss terms with foreign teams from January onwards amid perennial links with a move to the Saudi Pro League.
Salah's eyebrow-raising comments did not hinder Liverpool's team performance in their 2-0 Champions League win over Real Madrid in midweek - although the winger himself missed a penalty - and Watts wonders whether Arsenal could benefit from any negative impact as the saga goes on.
"Interesting what Mo Salah had to say after the game against Southampton, whether that rocks the boat a little bit ahead of such a big week," Watts added. "I'm not sure the timing of that was the best from Mo Salah, but clearly he had some sort of strategy, it was a strategic decision to say what he did have to say.
"Whether that impacts Liverpool and the other contracts negotiations going on. So it impacts Liverpool as the season goes on. We shall see. Arsenal will hope it will. But it's Liverpool's title to lose now, even at this early stage of the season."
Arsenal will head to West Ham without the services of Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu through injury, and Arteta offered a three-word update on Gabriel Magalhaes's fitness in Friday's pre-game press conference.
Ben Knapton
