Rio Ferdinand names two fixtures Arsenal will lose to cost them Premier League title

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand does not think Arsenal can go the distance in this season’s title race and has named the two games he think they will lose

Rio Ferdinand has determined which two games, both against bitter opponents, he believes will prevent Arsenal from winning the Premier League.

The Gunners are currently atop the table, level on points with second-place Liverpool but leading on goal differential with seven league games remaining. In this three-horse race for the title, things are close; Manchester City, the defending champions, are one point behind both in third.

Rio Ferdinand, a legend of Manchester United, believes the Gunners will lose two more games before the season is out and thus forfeit the title, even though Mikel Arteta’s team is currently leading. Any kind of dropped point could be fatal to a title charge at this point in the campaign.

Ferdinand picked Arsenal to lose 2-1 away at home against local rivals Tottenham before suffering another setback against United in the penultimate game of the season, while also projecting the rest of the Gunners’ schedule for TNT Sport. The former Red Devil believes that Erik ten Hag’s team will defeat Arteta’s team 3-2.

If the season turns out the way Ferdinand believes it might, Arsenal will finish second with 86 points after projecting the remaining games for their title rivals. Liverpool will finish third with the same number of goals, but a lower goal differential, meaning Pep Guardiola’s team will win the title for the fourth consecutive season.

Arteta’s attention will be solely focused on the upcoming match, which takes place at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon against Aston Villa. The Gunners manager wasn’t interested in giving that game too much weight, even though Arsenal plays after both City and Liverpool as the final game of the weekend.

“We will know the results, but we’ll still have our duty to win our game, which is the only thing that we can control,” the Spaniard said in his pre-match media conference.

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“That’s happened a few times already and it’s going to happen again in the next few weeks, so we’ll just focus on what we can do, what we can control and make sure that we perform like we have to do against a really good side to try to beat them.”

When asked about his players’ reactions to the pressure of the title fight, Arteta downplayed any suggestions that they were growing anxious as the season’s finish approached.

“I believe it is merely inspiration,” he continued. “I believe they have already experienced it, and they are incredibly enthusiastic about our actions and the team’s performance—winning games and making waves—and they are hungry for more. We intend to try even though we are aware of the task and challenge that lie ahead of us and how good we must be to win.