(Football news) Arsenal’s Premier League hopes have taken a massive hit in the last 2 weeks. The Gunners had a 2-0 lead against Liverpool at Anfield and at home against West Ham but in both the games they ended up conceding 2 goals which meant that they had to settle for a draw. Now Manchester City are just 4 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.

Next week’s game between the two title contenders at the Etihad Stadium is going to be a potential title decider. However before that Arsenal will host bottom placed Southampton in a must win game at the Emirates stadium. The North London side desperately need a win to put some pressure on Manchester City and end their winless run.

Southampton have lost 4 and drawn 2 of their last 6 games. Despite being rock bottom of the Premier League table, they still have a chance of surviving the drop but they need to start winning soon. The Saints will be without Juan Larios, Valentino Livramento, Mislav Orsic and Mohammed Salis while Che Adams could return to the bench.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles will be a big miss as he is ineligible to play against his parent club. Arsenal on the other hand are still missing long term absentees Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny and William Saliba. Oleksandr Zinchenko who missed the West Ham game is likely to return at left back in place of Kieran Tierney.

Arsenal were well in control in their last two games but ended up dropping points. Their confidence would have definitely taken a massive hit but it is still recoverable. Arsenal are still ahead of Manchester City and if they win all their remaining games the Gunners will be champions.

At the start of the season no one expected Arsenal to challenge for the title and a 2nd place finish will still be a good achievement. However considering the position they were in and the fact that the Mikel Arteta’s men were table toppers for so long it will be a failure of sorts if they do end up losing the title to Manchester City.

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