Monday 19 January 2015 09:32, UK
Manchester City now have to go to Stamford Bridge and beat Chelsea if they are to have any chance of retaining the Premier League title after losing 2-0 to Arsenal, says Graeme Souness.
City’s title chances were dealt a huge blow by Arsene Wenger’s men, who put in a disciplined display to become the first team to beat City by two or more goals at home since October 2010.
Goals in either half from Santi Cazorla, who converted from the spot after Vincent Kompany’s foul on Nacho Monreal, and Olivier Giroud, who headed home 20 minutes after the break, inflicted City’s third defeat of the season.
These players have a belief that the cause is never lost. So, don't write them out of it.
Chelsea now have a five point lead over their title rivals and Souness thinks City must go all-out for the three points when the two teams meet on January 31 - a game you can watch live on Saturday Night Football.
"They now have to go to Chelsea and win," Souness said on Super Sunday.
"City have got a hard run-in compared to Chelsea, whose tails will be firmly up after winning in some style yesterday. This team will go there playing under all sort of pressure. They’ll be no Yaya Toure for that one either and they missed him again today."
Souness also warned people not to rite City off just yet in the race for the title, pointing to their experience over the last few years at coming up on the rails with a late charge.
“We all know how hard it is for teams to win this title back-to-back,” Souness said.
“We’ve been here many times over the last few years, thinking that City won’t win the league – like the QPR game when they got it back in the 90th minute.
“These players are a team that have won the league twice in the last three years. These players have a belief that the cause is never lost. So, don’t write them out of it.
“I think there’s a lot of life left in this City team. Will they win it again this year? I don’t think so after today but that doesn’t mean they need to make wholesale changes. It’s slowly, slowly. It’s been proven over the years, you just have to keep adding to it.”
