Still searching for their first Premier League title since the 2003-04 Invincibles, Arsenal will have to mount one of the competition’s all-time great comebacks if they are to deny Arne Slot’s side a slice of stardom.
Mikel Arteta’s men are already nine points adrift of Liverpool in the top-flight table after 13 rounds of fixtures, while only being above Chelsea on alphabetical order and holding just a two-point buffer over stuttering champions Manchester City.
However, given Arsenal were leading the pack at this point in 2022-23 and 2023-24 but went on to finish in second place in both years, Watts has suggested that Arteta’s side may benefit from having a deficit to make up rather than a lead to protect.
“There will be a belief in that Arsenal team that they can do it. There is such a long way to go,” Watts told Sports Mole. “It is a massive gap, but it is such a long way to go still. Anything can happen. You’ve seen what’s happened with Manchester City – who would have predicted Man City would go on this run? If Man City can lose these games in a row, then anyone can. As good as Liverpool are doing now, you just never know what can happen in the future.
“As I’ve said many times, you’ve just got to position yourselves to be able to take advantage of any potential slip-up, and there’s such a long way to go that that slip-up can happen. Liverpool have got an awful lot of tricky away games to come this season. Arsenal have got, on paper, the hardest ones out of the way this season. They’ve got everything to come at home.
“It’s not done and dusted yet, and Mikel will be pointing to that very fact and he’ll bring that into his players. And last season, we were in February time and it was looking like make or break for Arsenal and they did it. They got themselves on a run. They overhauled Liverpool, really should have gone on and won the league. They put themselves in a position to and didn’t get it done again.
“Maybe they’d be better being the hunters this season rather than the hunted. The last two seasons they’ve been the hunted. Now they’ve got someone that they can set their sights on and try and haul back and maybe that might work to their advantage this season. We’ll see.”