Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has named Liverpool the favorites to win the Premier League after his side were held to a goalless home draw by a resilient Arsenal side under Mikel Arteta.<\/p>\n
Liverpool had come from behind earlier in the day to beat Brighton 2-1, with Jurgen Klopp\u2019s side topping the table by two points from the Gunners with City in third, three points from the peak of the table.<\/p>\n
Guardiola and his erstwhile reigning champions have been consistent the last few campaigns in putting together long winning runs late in the season to overhaul rivals in the race to finish top, but the Catalan has been candid in conceding that this year\u2019s title race was not in their hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways who is first is favorite,\u201d Guardiola said when asked if Liverpool were \u201cclear favorites\u201d to win the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second favorite is Arsenal and we are third\u2026It\u2019s not in our hands. All we can do is think of Aston Villa (at home on Wednesday). Always when we were top of the league, we were favorites. It was in our hands. Now it\u2019s not. It\u2019s simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
City and Arsenal were oth tenaciously engaged in a tightly-fought match at the Etihad, with Guardiola\u2019s men failing to score at home for the first time in 58 matches across all competitions.<\/p>\n
It was only last April that Arsenal lost 4-1 at the Etihad as City overhauled Mikel Arteta\u2019s side on their way to the treble. However this time there was no repeat as Arsenal\u2019s eight-game losing streak at the Etihad came to an end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the context and the way we arrived here 11 months ago was different, but the difficulty remains the same,\u201d Arsenal boss Arteta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the best team in the world, in my opinion, by far. They have the best manager in the world by far. To catch up and try to better than them is the challenge ahead of us\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know (if the draw is good for the title race). You want to win the game. You prepare to win it. If you cannot win it, make sure you draw it. We did that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven months ago, we were here and the story was very different. You have to make steps as a team and today we\u2019ve done that. We still have many more to come\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201c(It says) that we are improving and competing better and understand how you have to play these games but there is another step to make to win the championship. You have to come here and win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked how to break down Arsenal\u2019s impressive low block, Guardiola joked: \u201cKill someone\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognise my team, the proposals and how we pressed high,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve played against a low block sometimes and Arsenal are exceptional. Well managed and the players are really good.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to knock on the door of another manager and see if he can do it. As a team we\u2019re still there. We could have more in some aspects but I\u2019m satisfied. I told the team don\u2019t be sad. You give credit to Arsenal for the things they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"