Vieira: 'The championship will belong to Arsenal'

"Honestly, I think this year's Premier League title belongs to Arsenal," Vieira told William Hill on February 20. "Arsenal played really well against Aston Villa over the weekend. They are in a really good position right now, with a lot of confidence. I still believe Man City will chase Arsenal until the last day of the season, But the title belongs to Arsenal."

Arsenal used to create an eight-point gap, before slowing down recently. After losing 1-3 to Man City in the round 12 match, they even lost the top of the table to the opponent. However, confidence returned in the 4-2 win over Aston Villa last weekend. Arsenal returned to the top with 54 points from 23 games, two points ahead of Man City and one game less. The gap can increase to five points if Arsenal win the match.

However, according to former Man Utd player Gary Neville, Arsenal need to improve defensive quality to win the title. In the last six matches, "Gunners" conceded 12 goals. "One of the features of the sprint is that if you concede a goal and the other teams think they have a chance to score, it's going to be very difficult to win," commented Neville. "Arsenal need to revisit that. This weekend's round, against Leicester City, will give them confidence, if they can keep a clean sheet again. That's really important."

The last time Arsenal won the Premier League was the 2003-2004 season. In that season, former manager Arsene Wenger's team was crowned with an unbeaten record, and Vieira was a member. After leaving Arsenal in 2005, Vieira played for Juventus, Inter and Man City. He ended his playing career shortly after winning the 2011 FA Cup with Man City.

Vieira worked as a coach for the youth teams of Man City, New York City and Nice. From 2021, the 46-year-old military leader leads Crystal Palace. In the English Premier League this season, Crystal Palace lost to Arsenal 0-2 and Man City 2-4 in the first leg. They will play the second leg against Man City on March 11 and against Arsenal on March 19.

Man City are the Premier League champions in four of the last five seasons. Meanwhile, the last season Arsenal finished in the Top 4 was when they ranked second in the 2015-2016 season. In the past six seasons, "Gunners" have had three seasons ranked fifth, one season ranked sixth and two seasons ranked eighth.