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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Ivan Toney explains why Arsenal can win the Premier League after his goals down Man City

Ivan Toney is the toast of the red half of north London after the Brentford striker netted both goals in a 2-1 win over Manchester City and boost Arsenal's title chances in the process.

Regardless of what happened in the Gunners game away at Wolves, Toney's brace meant Mikel Arteta's side would sit top of the table on Christmas Day for the first time in 15 years. Thankfully from Arsenal's perspective, they ran out 2-0 winners at the Molineux to increase their advantage over Pep Guardiola's men to five points.

37 points from their first 14 games marks Arsenal's best ever start to a league season, yet still so many, including members of their own fanbase, are refusing to get wrapped up in talk of a title charge.

Whether they care to admit it or not, the Gunners faithful will take comfort from Brentford's inspired display as it shows the mighty City are in fact beatable. Toney explained how the Bees approached the mental aspect of the task with comments that should make for interesting reading for Arsenal's players.

"What we're doing week in, week out on the training pitch, we can do things like this," the striker told BT Sport.

"They might be Man City but they're humans and humans can lose games. Dedication and wanting to work hard for each other, we showed that today and I think we deserved the three points at the end."

Arsenal currently sit five points clear at the top of the table (PA)

HAVE YOUR SAY! Can Arsenal beat Man City to the title this season? Comment below

There is plenty of football left to be played and a lot can change between now and the final furlong of the campaign, but morale is the highest it has been at the Emirates for quite some time.

With that in mind, Arsenal may be relishing their meetings with City which will surely have a huge say in what way the trophy swings come the end of the season.

The pair are yet to face off this term, with the first meeting having to be rescheduled following Queen Elizabeth II's death in September.

Arsenal came very close to registering an impressive result against City at the Emirates on New Year's Day last season, having gone 1-0 up but a late capitulation saw Guardiola get one over on his former assistant once again.

There has been plenty of speculation surrounding Arsenal's activity in the January transfer market, with the likes of Brazilian midfielder Danilo and Shakhtar Donetsk star Mykhaylo Mudryk both touted with a move to the Emirates.

Should either or even both sign, an even stronger Arsenal could be in line to cause City the kind of headaches Toney did on Saturday afternoon in what could prove to be a defining weekend in the race for the title.

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