Two fixtures will cost Arsenal the Premier League title race according to Manchester United legend

Arsenal are still in control of the Premier League title race, but Rio Ferdinand has predicted the Gunners will fall short

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has pinpointed the two fixtures that he believes will cost Arsenal the Premier League title, both against fierce rivals.

Currently, with seven league games remaining, it's the Gunners who have their destiny in their own hands. They lead Liverpool on goal difference and can leapfrog champions Manchester City with a win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Despite Mikel Arteta's men being in pole position at present, Ferdinand predicts that Arsenal will suffer two more defeats before the season concludes, which could potentially derail their title aspirations. At this stage of the competition, any loss of points could be detrimental to their title hopes.

While forecasting the rest of Arsenal's season for TNT Sport, Ferdinand predicted a 2-1 defeat for the Gunners at the hands of local rivals Tottenham, followed by another loss against United in the second last game of the season. The former Red Devil anticipates a 3-2 victory for Erik ten Hag's side over Arteta's squad.

After predicting the outcomes of the remaining matches for their title competitors, Ferdinand's forecast sees Arsenal finishing second with 86 points if things pan out as he expects. Liverpool would end up third with the same points but a lesser goal difference, leaving Pep Guardiola's team as champions for the fourth consecutive time.

Arteta's focus is firmly on the upcoming match against Aston Villa at the Emirates this Sunday. Despite Arsenal playing after both City and Liverpool, Arteta isn't giving that much thought.

In his pre-match press conference, he stated: "We will know the results but we'll still have our duty to win our game which is the only thing that we can control.

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"That's happened a few times already and it's going to happen again in the next few weeks, so we'll just focus on what we can do, what we can control and make sure that we perform like we have to do against a really good side to try to beat them."

When asked about how his players were handling the pressure of the title race, Arteta dismissed any suggestions of nerves creeping in as the season draws to a close. "I think it is just motivation," he said. "I think they've lived it already and they are super excited about what we are doing and the way the team is performing, winning matches and they want more.

"We know the task, the challenge ahead of us and how good we have to be to win it, but we're going to try."

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