Thierry Henry has declared Arsenal the favourites to win the Premier League title, saying he does not see a team capable of challenging his former club. The Arsenal legend made the claim on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, expressing confidence in the Gunners' prospects for the season.
Arsenal's strong start to the season
Arsenal began their title defence with a convincing 3-0 victory over newly promoted Coventry, managed by Frank Lampard, just over a week ago. The Gunners are set to face Aston Villa away this evening, looking to continue their winning form. Villa, meanwhile, suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat at Brighton in their opening match.
Mikel Arteta's side will be aware of the results from the weekend, with Manchester City, last year's runners-up, maintaining their perfect start with a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace. Chelsea and Manchester United also secured victories at home to Brighton and Ipswich respectively, while Liverpool and Tottenham both experienced disappointing setbacks.
Henry's confidence in Arsenal
Speaking on Sky Sports, Henry was asked if he considered Arsenal the favourites, to which he replied: 'Yeah, I think so. You can see what Arsenal are about and what might happen, although you never know what can happen. I just don't see right now a team that can maybe challenge them, although City won pretty well the other day [against Crystal Palace].'
He added: 'That's what makes me even more confident that it can happen but I remember last year also, everyone thought Liverpool was going to be difficult to beat and then they imploded.'
Gary Neville echoes the sentiment
Twenty-four hours earlier, Manchester United legend Gary Neville made similarly confident remarks about Arsenal's title hopes. According to the former England right-back, Arsenal have the best defensive unit in the league 'by a million miles', giving them a major advantage over their rivals.
Neville said on Sky Sports: 'It's incredible what Arsenal have done really, to sign Ezri Konsa, because they've got [Jurrien] Timber, [Ben] White, [Cristhian] Mosquera, [William] Saliba, Gabriel [Magalhaes], [Piero] Hincapie, [Riccardo] Calafiori, [Myles] Lewis-Skelly. They've already got eight amazing defenders and now they've signed another really good centre-half. It's almost like they're doubling down and saying: we're not going to concede goals, we're just going to make sure we're better than everyone else defensively by a million miles – and they are. That will win them a title again.'
He continued: 'If you were to ask if you'd swap Arsenal's front players for United's, Liverpool's, Chelsea's, you might actually keep the front players. From a defensive perspective or in midfield, you'd swap all of them.'
Neville added: 'Arsenal, of course, when you think of Timber, Calafiori, Saliba and Gabriel, that's a proper back-four with the goalkeeper David Raya behind them. That's the only real team I look at right now. Obviously Manchester City had it when they were winning the league and I just don't see it. Obviously Liverpool had it but there's a real lack of units that are good, solid units now.'
A victory for Arsenal at Villa Park would put them level on points with City, Chelsea, and Premier League newcomers Hull City at the top of the table heading into the third round of games.
