Former Aston Villa man Gabriel Agbonlahor has backed Manchester City to win the Premier League for the fourth consecutive season, claiming Arsenal do not have the experience to beat them. Furthermore, the pundit singled out 24-year-old striker Eddie Nketiah for his miss against Crystal Palace, suggesting his misses could cost the Gunners the title.
Manchester City beat Arsenal in the Premier League race last season, with the latter dropping points in the final stretch of the campaign. Mikel Arteta’s side have strengthened over the summer, adding the likes of Kai Havertz and Declan Rice to their roster.
Agbonlahor accuses Arsenal’s Nketiah of being too wasteful
Although the north Londoners have a noticeably better squad this season, Agbonlahor does not think they will be able to beat City to the punch, both due to their inexperience and lack of a competent backup for Gabriel Jesus. He cited Nketiah’s attempted chipped finish against Palace, which flew well over the bar, as an example to show his lack of clinicalness.
When asked whether or not Arsenal could win the Premier League this season, Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT:
“I think Arsenal will push them but that I just think that experience, [Manchester City] know how to do it. Haaland. I was watching the Crystal Palace game and Nketiah, he misses too many chances for me.
“He got put through, I think it was by Rice. He tried to dink the keeper, over the bar. Haaland puts that away. So I do think Manchester City will win it.”
Nketiah played a good game against Crystal Palace
Although he did make a hash of the lobbed finish in the 36th minute, Nketiah performed pretty well in the 1-0 win against Crystal Palace on Monday night (August 21). In the 29th minute, he received a pass from Bukayo Saka, carved out a bit of space between defenders, and had a go at goal. His shot hit the base of the far post and came back into play.
Then, in the 51st minute, Nketiah raced onto Gabriel Martinelli’s early free-kick to go one-on-one with Palace goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Helpless, the keeper brought the striker down inside the area, which led to Martin Odegaard’s match-winning penalty.
With Jesus still recovering from a knee injury, Nketiah is guaranteed to start a few more matches under Arteta. It will be interesting to see if he manages to win Agbonlahor over with his finishing in that period.
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