Manchester United legend Roy Keane has warned Arsenal that Manchester City are now ‘red-hot favourites’ to win the Premier League title. The Gunners stumbled once again in the race to win their first title since 2004 as they drew 3-3 against Southampton on Friday night.
A mistake from Aaron Ramsdale gifted the Saints an early lead before Theo Walcott doubled the visitors' advantage. Gabriel Martinelli pulled a goal back before half-time with Duje Caleta-Car restoring Southampton's two-goal advantage in the second half.
Late goals from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka salvaged a point for Arsenal but a huge opportunity to go seven points clear of City was missed. Pep Guardiola's side then progressed into the FA Cup final after beating Sheffield United at Wembley on Saturday and will have two games in hand on the Gunners heading into their title showdown at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
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City are unbeaten in their last 16 games across all competitions and have won 11 of their last 12 as they chase down Arsenal at the top of the table. Keane believes Guardiola's side are now favourites to win the title and admitted it's tough to see his old team's fierce rivals challenge for a historic treble.
When asked if it would ‘irritate’ him if City secured the treble, the United legend told ITV: "Yep! But no, no… I don’t begrudge teams who are successful, I know how hard it is to win a trophy. If City go on to win it (the treble) I’d honestly say well done.
"But we know how tough it is. They’ve got a few hurdles to get over in terms of Real Madrid.
"They’re red-hot favourites for the FA Cup and of course the Premier League - very much so. The big problem is getting over Real Madrid."
Fellow pundit and Arsenal legend Ian Wright tried to interject before ITV host Mark Pougatch turned to him to ask why he was looking at Keane in an unusual way. "I was just thinking about them doing the treble," Arsenal legend Wright said.
"If they do the treble they’ll have won the league, so I’ll be disappointed with that. Winning the treble is an unbelievable achievement. If they can do that… I’ll probably be disappointed with that this season."
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