Kyle Walker has made a slight dig at the strong Manchester City influence in Arsenal’s team and states that he would rather see Liverpool claim the title over the Gunners.
The three Premier League giants are all competing for the title with just two points separating them; Arsenal can briefly take the top spot if they beat Brentford on Saturday evening before Liverpool and City face off in an exciting clash at Anfield on Sunday.
City have only won once away to Liverpool since Pep Guardiola took charge – and that was behind closed doors during Covid.
After their tough trip to Anfield, they then host Newcastle in the FA Cup quarter-final before Arsenal visit the Etihad at the very end of March in the first weekend back after the international break.
Ahead of a crucial run of games, Walker was in fighting talk in an appearance on Rio Ferdinand’s FIVE YouTube channel and has backed City to beat Arsenal – just as they did last season at the Etihad in a 4-1 win – while he also noted how heavily the Gunners have borrowed from Guardiola.
Asked if he is impressed by what Arsenal are doing during an extensive interview with Ferdinand’s FIVE YouTube channel, Walker grinned and replied: ‘I think you’ve taken our assistant coach as your manager.
‘You’ve got [Oleksandr] Zinchenko that I think is a very big part of it. And Gabi [Gabriel Jesus]. But I’ll give you credit, it’s a very, very good team now. A very good team.’
When Arsenal’s win at the Emirates earlier this season was brought up, Walker continued: ‘The better team won on the day. Still a lot of games to play.
‘Remember the last time they came to the Etihad? Come to the Etihad, we’ll see. We will see.’
Walker, who spent eight years at Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham, also revealed that – if City do not win the league – he would rather see Liverpool lift the title over the Gunners due to his lingering allegiance to Spurs.
He added: ‘It’s so hard. I don’t want Arsenal [to win] because of Tottenham.’
Asked by Ferdinand if he still had affection for Spurs, Walker replied: ‘Yeah, I just don’t want Arsenal.’
Walker was also asked about comments made by Trent Alexander-Arnold this week in which he said Liverpool’s trophies ‘meant more’ than City’s, but unlike some of his team-mates, Walker declined to hit back at his England team-mate, saying: ‘I’m not even getting involved in that!’
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