Arsenal Will Challenge For Title Insists Claudio Ranieri

The kind of footballer who nearly conjures memories of how you weren’t half bad as an amateur 11-a-sider and think, for a split second, perhaps it’s not too late…

The East Midlands outfit have been the surprise package of the EPL season so far, and are the only team, after six matches, to remain unbeaten.

The Magpies are unsurprisingly the lowest rated team in the Premier League (6.57) having scored the fewest goals in the division (3). “It is fantastic. I love it!”

Manchester City have won each of their last 4 league meetings with Tottenham, scoring 16 and conceding just twice, though the last match between the two ended in a narrow 1-0 victory for Pellegrini’s men.

At first glance Leicester City and their phenomenal run shouldn’t work.

Much of last week’s column was spent bigging up Manchester City so it was Sod’s Law that they would slip up at home to West Ham, the Premier League’s specialist giantkillers.

Arsenal are odds-on to beat Leicester, with a win for the Gunners priced at 5/6.

On one hand, he did not tinker with the attacking brand of football that turned around Leicester’s fortunes so spectacularly under Pearson towards the end of last season, but he has also integrated new signings including Shinji Okazaki, Gokhan Inler, Nathan Dyer and N’Golo Kante.

But the man designated to subdue the winger, for whom the cliched adjective “flying” actually seems appropriate, will give Arsenal reassurance. It hasn’t gone well, however, with the Belgian sent off in the opener and only managing two more games before a knee injury knocked him out of action until December. Mahrez adds quality with his mesmeric control and ability to dribble and swerve at acute angles. “Personally I am happy because I scored two goals”.

‘He is unbelievable. Just like the Roadrunner… beep, beep and then whoosh! “I’ve certainly got better in that regard”.

“I’m very proud of my players”. He’s made two assists already this season with a passing accuracy of 89.2 percent.

Continuing the simple tactics of his predecessor, Claudio Ranieri instructs his players to consistently launch long balls onto the head of Jamie Vardy (13.5 aerial duels per match, league’s most) to release the pace of Marc Albrighton and Mahrez out wide.

At least Alexis Sanchez knows what it is like to score at the King Power, the Chilean star remains goalless and profligate this season, with questions growing as to what is wrong with last season’s player of the year.

Newcastle could well go down to the Championship if their form doesn’t swiftly improve, but I can’t see a sudden change in their performance levels against champions Chelsea in Saturday’s evening kickoff.