Danny Murphy says only one team can stop Arsenal winning the Premier League
Danny Murphy views Arsenal as clear favourites to win the Premier League and says only one team can stop the Gunners from retaining their title.
Mikel Arteta’s side begin the defence of their Premier League title on Friday night when newly-promoted Coventry City visit the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal finished as runners-up for three successive seasons before finally lifting their first Premier League trophy since 2004 last term.
Ex-England midfielder Murphy believes the outlook of the title race could yet change before the end of the summer transfer window, but says he currently ‘can’t look past’ Arsenal.
The Gunners have enjoyed another strong transfer window, signing Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis while they are closing in on a £51m deal for England defender Ezri Konsa.
Arsenal underlined their status as Premier League title favourites with an emphatic 3-0 win over Manchester City in Sunday’s Community Shield.
‘It is always hard to call it now, especially when it feels like all the top teams have a lot of business to do before the transfer window shuts, but I can’t look past Arsenal as champions,’ Murphy told BBC Sport.
‘The main reasons being the momentum and confidence they will have from winning the Premier League already, but also the consistency of having the same manager and same players and just sprinkling even more quality on top.
‘They have not lost any of their best players and they have got a group who know what the manager expects from them and are completely on board with it.
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‘Mikel Arteta didn’t need to spend half the pre-season drilling them with his methods like a new manager has to.’
It has been suggested that Arsenal may have to withstand title challenges from the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United.
But Murphy believes Manchester City will once again be Arsenal’s biggest rival for the title in Enzo Maresca’s first season at the Etihad Stadium.
‘I look at the firepower Man City have got and, whoever the manager is and whoever they are playing against, they are still going to be able to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games,’ Murphy said.
As for his former club Liverpool, Murphy cannot see Andoni Iraola’s side mounting a genuine title challenge but believes they will secure a top-four finish.
‘Liverpool might need a bit more time before they are challenging for the title again,’ Murphy added.
‘I am also not sure whether they think they have already got enough to replace Mohamed Salah by bringing in Victor Munoz and maybe giving Rio Ngumoha a bigger role, or whether they are really going to go for Paris St-Germain’s Bradley Barcola, or someone like him, in the next few days.’
Murphy also named newly-promoted Ipswich Town as his ‘surprise package’ in the Premier League.
‘I am not talking about the top four, but Ipswich might surprise a few people and, out of the the ones who have come up, be the team who don’t struggle,’ he said.
‘They have spent quite a lot, and brought in about a dozen players, like Sunderland did last year, and again they have brought in a similar type of player too, with a lot of athleticism.
‘Their manager Gary O’Neil did all right at Wolves and Bournemouth and he will be as well-equipped as ever to know which games to go after, and when to dig in.’
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