Roy Keane: 'Arsenal will collapse on championship track'

"Arsenal are in a great position. Nobody thought they would be in that position before the season," Keane said on April 5 on Gary Neville's show The Overlap. "Arsenal played brilliantly, there were many young players playing stably and giving their all for the Premier League. Arsenal are clearly strong candidates, but I don't think they will win the title."

In the 29th round of the Premier League last weekend, Arsenal crushed Leeds 4-1 to re-establish an eight-point gap with Man City - the club beat Liverpool with a similar score in the early match. "Gunners" currently leads with 72 points from 29 matches, while Man City has 64 points from 28 matches.

The next six rounds, Arsenal in turn met Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton, Man City, Chelsea and Newcastle. In particular, the great battle at Etihad Stadium on April 26 can decide the throne this season. If they overcome these matches, the "Gunners" will take a big step towards the Premier League title for the first time since the unbeaten season in 2003-2004 under the legendary manager Arsene Wenger. That's because in the last three rounds, Arsenal in turn met inferior opponents, including Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Wolves.

Meanwhile, Man City must distribute power to all three arenas. Besides 10 matches in the Premier League, the army under Pep Guardiola has two rounds to meet Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals on April 11 and April 19, in addition to the match against Sheffield United in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on April 22.

Keane rated Man City higher because they "are used to the pressure of the title race and won four of the last five seasons". In contrast, the former Ireland midfielder thinks Arsenal may collapse again in a sprint like last season. At that time, despite having the advantage in the top 4 race, coach Mikel Arteta's army lost six of the last 12 matches of the season and lost tickets to the Champions League to rival Tottenham.

"But again, Arsenal are excellent. If they maintain their form and win the title this season, they deserve to be praised. But ahead is a tense and important period, where the difference is shown. between men and children. Can they cross the line?", Keane added.

In the 30th round of the Premier League, Arsenal marched to Liverpool's field on April 9, while Man City were guests of Southampton a day earlier.