Alan Shearer highlights major Arsenal advantage in title race with Man City

Alan Shearer has hailed Arsenal’s defence as superior to Manchester City’s, suggesting it could be a decisive factor in the Premier League title race.

The Gunners edged past Tottenham with a hard-fought 1-0 victory on Sunday, thanks to Gabriel Magalhaes’ bullet header in the second half. Despite missing key players like Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, Arsenal clinched three vital points to maintain their challenge near the top of the table.

After the win, Shearer singled out Mikel Arteta’s defensive unit as the cornerstone of Arsenal’s impressive form, asserting that they boast the league’s finest backline.

On the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “I think once Arsenal go 1-0 up against you, they’re tough to get back, because they are – they’ve got the best back four in the Premier League, without a shadow of a doubt.

“They don’t give hardly anything away, Spurs just kept trying to put hopeful balls into the box and Arsenal dealt with it easily. They deserved the three points Arsenal, without playing particularly well, which has to be a good sign.”

Arsenal’s defensive solidity is reflected in their record of three clean sheets from four matches, including significant shutouts at Aston Villa and Spurs.

Gary Lineker, co-host of the podcast, also weighed in on the discussion, attributing much of Arsenal’s defensive prowess to the central defensive partnership of Gabriel and William Saliba.

He said: “It certainly does, I think, I mean we’ve mentioned Saliba a lot but that partnership with him and Gabriel is very strong as you just said Alan.

“I mean, Gabriel’s a warrior, isn’t he? He’s a player you’d really want on your side and he does chip in with the odd goal.”

Lineker, Shearer and Micah Richards also debated whether Gabriel’s goal should have been disallowed for a foul on Cristian Romero. Lineker questioned the incident, saying: “Although, a bit of a push? [Was it] a bit of a push?”.

It sparked immediate disagreement from Shearer who asserted: “Nah! I mean, he’s got to be stronger hasn’t he? Goodness me, Romero, wasn’t he the one who had a little appeal, didn’t he?”

Richards was on the fence but edged towards it being a free-kick: “It probably was [a foul]. It was for me, I would’ve went 55/45 I would say in favour of a foul, I would say. I don’t like seeing fouls given for that, but he did push him, he definitely pushed him.”

Lineker concluded: “They [the referees] were never going to turn that one over though!”