Dennis Bergkamp feels Arsenal‘s rivals are not strong enough to deny Mikel Arteta’s squad going on to win the Premier League — but warned the players must not let a fear of failure creep into their own game.
Following another dramatic weekend, the Gunners sit six points clear of Manchester City, who produced a late fightback to beat Liverpool 2-1 in a remarkable game at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
With a full set of midweek fixtures ahead of the FA Cup fourth round, the gap could be down to just three points by the time Arsenal play again at Brentford on Thursday.
Former Gunners forward Bergkamp, though, maintains the likes of City and Aston Villa — who are now nine points adrift after a dip in recent form — do not have enough in the tank to last the distance.
“The danger is, of course, that people start to talk about the last few seasons. If the players let that come to you, if you are going to mention it yourself, for example, then the players will know,” Bergkamp said on The Overlap podcast.
“I know what Arsene [Wenger] always said: ‘Every game is a final, just focus on the next game’. That is the main thing now.
“I wouldn’t be too worried because I feel the other teams aren’t strong enough at this moment. [Manchester] City may be coming there. I don’t think other teams could catch them because they are going to drop points as well.
“The big games are yet to come. The difficult period is yet to come, so for all the teams, because they are all still in the Champions League and fighting on.”
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Bergkamp, who won the Premier League title three times as part of Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ squad, added: “The only thing I would say is [about] the intensity of the first few months and the excitement. It looks sometimes now like ‘let’s not make a mistake’.
“And in football, if you are at the top, if you want to be a champion, you can’t rely on [that mentality of] ‘let’s not make a mistake.'”
