Roy Keane believes Arsenal are Manchester City's main rival for the Premier League title this season. The Gunners climbed back to the top of the table following their statement 3-2 win over Liverpool on Sunday.
Even though Arsenal lead the way by a point after nine games, City are heavy favourites to win the title for a fifth time in six seasons. A second-placed finish would still represent an outstanding season for Mikel Arteta's Gunners, but their start has got some fans dreaming of a title tilt.
Following Arsenal's defeat at Manchester United last month - still their only one of the campaign - Keane delivered a brutal verdict on Arsenal and Arteta, suggesting that they were more interested in winning plaudits for their style of football rather than winning games. He said: "Arsenal coming here and getting plaudits.
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"When I was here [at Man United], teams may come and have a good game, but I was never bothered about the plaudits. I was bothered about the points.
"You can praise Arsenal all you want. This is about results and winning football matches."
However, it appears that Keane is now feeling a little bit more positive about the Gunners and their chances of troubling City for the title this term. The former United midfielder believes Arsenal are the biggest threat to City but says their error-prone centre-backs could be a problem.
"At the moment, they are City's main rivals. They are playing with a lot of confidence," Keane said on Monday Night Football. "Even when they lost against Manchester United, they played very well. It was just one of those days when they got caught on the counter-attack.
"They look defensively better, even though the centre-backs have a mistake in them, they have experience in midfield and young players full of energy and talent. At the moment, they are the biggest threat to Manchester City."
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