By Balikis Ajoyo
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has identified Manchester City as Arsenal’s closest rival in the race for the Premier League title this season.
Murphy also backed Arsenal to win the league, with Manchester City finishing second, Liverpool third and Manchester United fourth.
The former England international made the prediction while speaking to BBC Sport ahead of the Premier League opening fixtures this weekend.
Explaining his decision to make Arsenal the favourites, Murphy pointed to the stability and continuity within Mikel Arteta’s squad, noting that the manager did not have to spend much of pre-season introducing a new system to his players.
“Mikel Arteta didn’t need to spend half the pre-season drilling them [Arsenal players] with his methods like a new manager has to,” Murphy said.
He also highlighted Manchester City’s attacking quality, arguing that their ability to score goals would keep them firmly in contention regardless of their opponents.
“I look at the firepower Man City have got and, whoever the manager is and whoever they are playing against, they are still going to be able to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games.
“I would still have them as being Arsenal’s nearest rivals,” he added.