Arsenal legend Thierry Henry identifies key reason why Mikel Arteta's side might struggle to win Premier League title this season

Goals in either half from Tomas Soucek and former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos condemned Mikel Arteta's side to a shock 2-0 defeat at the Emirates on Thursday. The result means they missed the chance to leapfrog league leaders Liverpool, and are only ahead of third-placed Aston Villa and fourth-positioned Manchester City by one point and three points respectively. Now, Arsenal legend Henry believes the increase in competition at the top of the table will make it harder for the north London outfit to emerge as champions in May.

He told Amazon Prime: “In my time, it was two teams (Arsenal and Manchester United) that could have won it and then Chelsea came along. Now when you look at it, Liverpool are in it, [Aston] Villa are in it, although no one expected them to be.

"Let’s be honest, they played a Manchester United side where it was do or die in the second half so they had to answer that call. You are not going to kill Villa with what has happened recently. What they have been doing is tremendous and the league is more difficult to win.”

Last season, the Gunners blew an eight-point lead over City in the final stretch, eventually ending up five points adrift of Pep Guardiola's men. They will not want to spurn any more chances to put distance between them and the chasing pack.

Arsenal can return to the summit of the Premier League if they beat London neighbours Fulham at Craven Cottage on December 31. A week later, they face off again against title rivals Liverpool in round three of the FA Cup at the Emirates.