Former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand believes Arsenal are Manchester City’s biggest threat to retaining their Premier League crown this season.
City returned to action in the top flight on Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool. Erling Haaland gave the Blues the lead just before the half hour mark as the hosts capitalised on a mistake by Alisson.
Pep Guardiola’s men thought they had added a second after the interval but Ruben Dias’ goal was ruled out for a foul on the away side’s shot stopper. This decision would haunt the Blues with ten minutes remaining when Trent Alexander-Arnold fired home to share the spoils.
In Saturday’s evening kick off, the Gunners moved to the top of the league with a narrow 1-0 win over Brentford. Kai Havertz bagged a late winner as Arsenal moved onto 30 points.
After the match, Ferdinand explained to TNT Sports why Mikel Arteta’s men are City’s biggest challengers this year. “The two centre-backs (Gabriel and William Saliba) are the reason why I would put Arsenal ahead of Liverpool in the title race to challenge Man City,” he said.
“I think those two, they’re bang in-form. You can trust them implicitly, and they look like that partnership is going to grow with the way they’re playing at the moment.
“They don’t mind coming to places like this and having to fight. That’s the big difference as well.
“There’s some players that, when it’s good and going well, they look good. But these guys don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and doing the ugly stuff, which is a real testament to them as a partnership.”
The Puma home shirt features the traditional sky blue colour but has slightly darker blue detailed stripes across the front which take inspiration from the Etihad Stadium’s walkways. City moved to their new home from Maine Road in 2003 and the shirt honours that anniversary.
