Shaka Hislop has ruled one of Arsenal’s rivals out of the Premier League title race.
The Gunners’ sensational winning run came to an end on Saturday as Mikel Arteta’s side drew 2-2 with newly-promoted Sunderland.
The league leaders were on course to seal an 11th successive win in all competitions when Bukayo Saka cancelled out Dan Ballard’s opener and Leandro Trossard put the visitors ahead.
But Brian Brobbey’s injury-time goal earned Sunderland a point and denied Arsenal an eight-point lead at the top of the table ahead of Manchester City’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
Despite dropping points at the Stadium of Light, Arsenal remain the clear favourites to win the Premier League and their first title since 2004.
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Pep Guardiola’s Man City and defending champions Liverpool could yet mount title challenges but Hislop says the team currently in second have ‘no chance’.
Club World Cup winners Chelsea climbed to second in the Premier League on Saturday with a routine 3-0 win over managerless Wolves.
Chelsea spent big in the summer transfer window after finishing fourth last season but former Premier League goalkeeper Hislop has still ruled them out of the title race.
Asked whether he believes Chelsea can win the title this season, Hislop said on ESPN: ‘No, no chance. Should I give you a percentage? 0.5%.
‘They won’t win the league. If you offered me 1000/1 for Chelsea to win the league, I still wouldn’t take that bet right now.’
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol disagreed with Hislop’s strong take, saying: ‘You can say never. But I would be very surprised if Chelsea won the Premier League.’
Hislop added: ‘Yes you can [say Chelsea will never win the title this season]. You can.’
Arsenal boss Arteta described Sunderland’s last-minute equaliser as a ‘kick in the stomach’ but said he was still pleased with his team’s ‘very strong position’ going into the international break.
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‘They make it really hard for you,’ Arteta said of Sunderland. ‘It’s is not a criticism. My feeling is that we should have won it.
‘Credit to them, it was the type of game that they wanted to throw you in and you have to handle that.
‘There are a lot of games like this in the Premier League right now. We conceded a goal in a manner we knew was one of their biggest strengths. They do that really well.
‘After that I think we reacted well. We scored the first goal, then the second and the game was dominated. But in any moment, they just need a foul or a long throw, a direct ball to create that chaos.
“You have to defend actions well. We conceded a goal and we’re really disappointed. But it wasn’t meant to be so we have to accept it.
‘We’re in a very strong position for the reasons I said. Clean sheets, seven top players up front injured so we haven’t been able to rotate as much.
‘We’ve had some very tough games as well. Let’s get some players back and go again.’
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