Michael Owen Predicts Arsenal to Break City’s Dominance
Michael Owen believes Arsenal can finally end their Premier League drought this season, with Manchester City suffering a sharp drop-off.
The Gunners have finished second for the past two seasons, trailing Pep Guardiola’s team, which has been able to overtake them with late pushes. However, Owen believes it will be the third time fortunate for the north London club, who last won the Premier League in 2004.
Unlike in prior years, the ex-Liverpool man believes the Manchester club, which hasn’t placed outside the top two in seven years, will tumble to fourth. This would be Guardiola’s poorest league finish in his managerial tenure.
Owen has backed his previous side, now led by Arne Slot, to finish second, with Aston Villa expected to keep their top-four spot and solidify their position in the Champions League.
Michael Owen Comments
The former Liverpool star told Casino Hawks:
“Arsenal and Manchester City will go in virtually everybody’s top four predictions and I think Liverpool will probably be in there as well despite there being some questions over how well Arne Slot will fit in.”
“I had a thought about Newcastle but Aston Villa are solid and look to be still improving. In terms of the order, my thought process is if City are not gonna win it, they could actually drop away a little bit.”
“It’s almost like if City are not gonna be really in the race after 10 games then their priority could go elsewhere – I think there could be a big surprise this season. I’m going to go for Arsenal first, Liverpool second, Aston Villa third and Manchester City fourth.”
Owen believes City’s Premier League struggles will be a distraction, but that if their focus switches away from domestic issues, they may win another Champions League.
Michael Owen further added by saying:
“The title is Manchester City’s to lose, but I think they could slip up this year. They have really put their foot down when they have needed to and went on an incredible run last year, but at some point they’re going to fall short.”
“When other challengers get stronger and wiser it’ll get tougher for them and I wouldn’t rule out that being this season. They’ve also got the investigation hanging over them and Pep Guardiola is not going to be there forever. This could be his last season.”
“There’s always things that test you throughout the season and they’ve navigated that so far, but something might knock them off the rail this season. With Arsenal being so good last season and with no signs of them going away with more signings coming in, they are viable challengers again.”
“When other challengers get stronger and wiser it’ll get tougher for them and I wouldn’t rule out that being this season. They’ve also got the investigation hanging over them and Pep Guardiola is not going to be there forever. This could be his last season.”
Relegation Battle: Promoted Teams Face Tough Season
Owen has also shared his thoughts on the relegation battle predicting that newly promoted Leicester, Ipswich, and Southampton will struggle to stay up.
He noted that promoted teams often face difficulties in the Premier League citing last season’s trend where the three newly promoted sides were relegated.
The former striker believes this trend will continue with the promoted teams likely to find it hard to adapt to the Premier League’s challenges. According to Owen, it’s becoming increasingly common for promoted sides to face a swift return to the Championship.
“I can see the three promoted teams struggling in the Premier League as a trend going forwards, the three that came up went down last season and if it wasn’t for the points deductions suffered by Everton and Nottingham Forest, it would’ve been even more convincing. They made a fight of it and everybody really enjoyed watching Luton play for example, but if Forest didn’t have points taken off then it would’ve been done earlier.”
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