Michael Owen's case for Arsenal retaining the title isn't just about them

Former football player Michael Owen strongly believes Arsenal will retain their Premier League title once again. 

Arsenal, at the moment, look to be the strongest they have been in over two decades. They have quality players on every part of the pitch, while also having some brilliant depth to go with it. Their coach is one of the best in the business, and every passing day, this group of individuals looks more and more like a team – which they already were a year or two ago. 

They have some brilliant leaders, they have serial winners, they have players who work their socks off for the club – and they have genuine talent rising from the ranks. Things could not be better.

That, coupled with a declining competition, is exactly why Owen believes Arsenal will retain their title.

He said: “Arsenal only have to stand still and they win the Premier League again. I can’t see anyone jumping out of the pack and getting 85 points, whereas Arsenal are pretty much guaranteed to hit that number again.

“They’re such a steady team with such a good goalkeeper and defence, I just can’t see the wheels falling off. They’re just guaranteed to post a number, it won’t be a number that Man City or Liverpool hit in the past but I just can’t see anyone matching them.

“There’s too many questions over the others teams, there’s questions everywhere this season with all the new managers bar Arsenal. They will be steady and get mid to late 80s and I don’t think anyone can beat that.”

Liverpool and Manchester City are the two competitors for Arsenal this season. Maybe Manchester United are able to cling on to that top three spot despite having Champions League football to take care of, but no one really knows.

The point is, there isn’t a single team apart from Arsenal that is guaranteed to be successful right this season. No one knows a team they can convincingly say is going to finish in the same range of points as Arsenal – close enough to challenge them for the league.

That is not to say they can’t – anything can happen in football, and less believable things have happened before – but as far as predictions go, this is a pretty solid one. Based on the confusion that many teams are under, and the convincing way in which Arsenal go about their business, there isn’t a lot that anyone else can predict. 

Things change a lot in football, but the fact of the matter is there is no single contender in the Premier League that could challenge Arsenal. It is a group of top teams with a lot of changes who can easily replace each other in the position, but there’s no single second-best or top-two team in the league right now, and that is exactly why Arsenal remain favourites. 

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