The likes of Arsene Wenger and Patrick Vieira are feeling bullish about Arsenal's chances this season, insisting that the Gunners are genuine Premier League title contenders. The Arsenal legends believe their former club can maintain their early season form, which sees them top the table after six matches.
"There is no completely dominating team this season and Arsenal has a chance with the potential that is there," said Wenger. "We used to be in the top four and why not again? You cannot even rule out the fact that they can fight for the title and hopefully, they can do it.”
Crystal Palace boss Vieira was in agreement with his old manager, saying after playing Arsenal and Liverpool in back-to-back games: "When you look at the number of points, of course playing against two teams who are fighting to win the Premier League, is always going to be challenging."
Mikel Arteta's side are also favourites to win the Europa League this season, priced at 9/2 with Sky Bet to be victorious in the competition. The Gunners got off to a perfect start in Europe by beating FC Zurich 2-1 in Switzerland last week, and Granit Xhaka has highlighted their aim to lift the trophy in Budapest in May.
Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit believes Arteta's side are capable of winning both the Premier League and Europa League this term - which would be the first time the club have won two trophies in a season in 21 years.
The Frenchman wants to see Arsenal take the Europa League seriously, while he believes there is still a major step the Gunners need to take if they are going to lift their first Premier League title in 19 years.
"Right now, Arsenal are first in the league so I would say they are genuine title contenders," Petit told Lord Ping.
"They have improved over the last few seasons, but they still need to improve against the top teams. They need to learn to convincingly beat top teams.
"Arsenal know that the Europa League is very important for them because the winner qualifies for the Champions League. I think Arsenal will take the competition very seriously and I'm pretty sure that both Arsenal and Man United will reach the semi-finals.
"If they both meet in the final, I'm a Gooner, so I back Arsenal to win."
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