‘I tipped Arsenal for bad season – I still don’t think they win the Premier League’

David James has been ‘really impressed’ with Arsenal after tipping them for a poor season but still doubts they will go on to win the Premier League.

Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to ten games and moved four points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

£67.5m summer signing Eberechi Eze smashed home his first league goal for the Gunners against his former club.

That was the only team Arsenal breached Palace’s defence but a fifth straight clean sheet meant that was enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to take full advantage of Liverpool and Manchester City defeats.

Defending champions Liverpool, now outside the top-four after four successive losses, were beaten by Brentford while Man City lost at Aston Villa.

Sitting four points clear at the top of the table, Arsenal’s nearest competition now comes from three unlikely sources – Bournemouth, Tottenham and newly-promoted Sunderland.

Arsenal have finished as runners-up for the past three seasons but look well-placed to lift their first Premier League title since 2004.

Before the season started, ex-England goalkeeper James predicted Arsenal would suffer a drop-off this term and finish fourth.

James says it would be ‘foolish’ to stand by that prediction given Arsenal’s impressive form but has still has doubts over the the Gunners’ title charge.

‘I’d be foolish to say, no, I haven’t changed my mind about Arsenal with them at the top of the table,’ James told Metro on behalf of AskGamblers. ‘There’s something about Arsenal I really like.

‘I like the numbers. They’ve improved in so many different areas. In the past, if they conceded, it was a weird stat for the majority of last season, that they would not score in the second-half if they conceded in the first-half.

‘It was a really weird stat, and I just questioned what was going on in the changing room. Now that’s changed now to the point that they’ve even come back from losing positions at half-time to win games.

‘You look at the Man City game where they were losing 1-0 early on, and they, if it had not been for some ridiculously good defending, would have won that game at the Emirates. So there are improvements there.

‘I guess people might look at the Fulham game and think, well, actually, you’ve got the best opportunities here, and it’s still not quite what I expect for a side who seemingly are in a wonderful position.

‘The test for them, as I’m sure many people will say, is now that they’re top of the table, how are they going to handle that?

‘There’s another caveat to this because last season they played 14 Champions League games which meant they played 14 Premier League games before those fixtures and they only won four and it appeared that there was a definite focus on the Champions League.

‘Maybe that was because Liverpool started to run away with the title race quite early, but there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on the Champions League more so than the Premier League, especially towards the end of the season where there was a chance of obviously getting to the final.

‘Now it’s how Mikel Arteta handles the balance of the Champions League and the Premier League, especially when you’re leading the Premier League.

‘I don’t think Arsenal will win the title if that’s an answer, even if they’ve started well.

‘I think the likes of Man City Chelsea and Liverpool will go into the last weeks of the season, if not the last game of the season, and possibly decide the title race.

‘But it will be interesting with Arteta to see how he handles qualification for the Champions League and maintain that top position in the Premier League, and I don’t think they’ll be able to do it.’

Arsenal return to Premier League action next weekend with a trip to Turf Moor to take on Burnley. Liverpool face a tricky match at home to Aston Villa.

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.