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Football London
Football London
Sport
Rohan Jivan

Pundits disagree over Arsenal's Premier League top-four prediction as rivals Tottenham threaten

Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park last weekend, with Hale End superstar Bukayo Saka grabbing the all-important goal in the 30th minute.

The victory means that the Gunners stay in fourth position at this time of writing and are three points ahead of north London rivals Tottenham, with a game in hand.

Certainly, prior to the Premier League season commencing, the majority expected Arsenal to suffer yet another disappointing campaign, with manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu criticised heavily for the recruitment strategy taken.

READ MORE: Arsenal linked with surprise transfer move for out of favour Manchester United star

But with the business end of the season now fully underway, it's fair to say that their summer arrivals have impressed, with Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White and Martin Odegaard all producing consistent performances for the north Londoners.

Despite Arsenal's form under Arteta, Stan Collymore still backs either Spurs or Manchester United to pip them for fourth place.

"I’m going for United or Spurs to pip them to the post, though, because I suspect Arsenal’s young team will choke on the final stretch," he told The Sunday People.

"If they prove me wrong, I will happily wear an Arsenal shirt with ‘Arteta 8’ on the back and post a picture of it on social media on the last day of the season."

His prediction goes against Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards' thoughts, who has backed the Gunners to finish in one of those all-important Champions League places earlier this month.

"Arsenal have got momentum, it's all about momentum at this point," he said following Manchester United's defeat in the Manchester derby.

"Watching Man United, I don't think it's as bad as we're going on - I saw something in that first half. Arsenal have got the games in hand so if I was to pick (fourth place) right now it'd be Arsenal."

It will be interesting to see what happens during the closing stages of the season, with the top-four race likely to go right down to the wire.

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