Arsenal have a great opportunity of building momentum

Arsenal have a great opportunity of building momentum in the title race when they host Manchester City at the Etihad stadium in the midweek match.

This fixture comes just a week ahead of the Boxing Day fixtures. Traditionally, this is a busy period for English clubs. Titles have often been won and lost during this period since the weak teams have been unable to cope with the never-ending run of games around this time. This has also been one of the weak spots for Arsenal in the last decade. However, the team got into the Christmas schedule with a real opportunity of becoming winter champions.

A surprise factor is that Arsenal are the favourites for a win due to their recent form. The gunners have won the last four league encounters and they could close the gap on Leicester City to just two points with a win. City have failed to convince this season and their form has been exemplified by the last five matches. Just two wins and two defeats from the last five games is not Championship winning form and Manuel Pellegrini faces a question mark over his job security. There have been reports of Pep Guardiola coming in to replace the Chilean after having recently confirmed his departure from Bayern Munich.

“Of course it is good for English football. Not only for English football, it’s good for everybody in football all over the world to see teams who are not on the biggest budget at the start, that they can compete as well. There’s always a way to be successful when you’re intelligent and competent. Of course that’s very positive and they’ve shown another fantastic performance on Monday night. I always took them seriously as title contenders,” said Arsene Wenger ahead of the match on Monday night.