'They've walked the walk' - Man City backed to pip Arsenal to Premier League title as key difference between contenders explained

While Guardiola claims he "could not care less" about the weekly changes in the title race, several pundits are backing City to go all the way and overhaul Arsenal after the Gunners' shock collapse at Wolves, the worst team in the league this season. Speaking ahead of City's game with Newcastle on TNT Sports, former defender Joleon Lescott and Joe Cole both suggested that Guardiola's side have a crucial ingredient in their squad which Mikel Arteta's men lack.

Cole said: "They've walked the walk. All the real top players, the more pressure there is around, the more eyes are on them, the more they love it and they step up. Arteta has got players who he thinks they're champions, otherwise he wouldn't have bought them, but he doesn't know. Pep has got players who he knows are champions. When he's putting them out there he only has to tell them 'just do what you do, you've won multiple titles'."

Lescott agreed: "The title-winning teams I was in it was new. This isn't new to Pep, this isn't new to this club anymore. They're experienced. Their hope and belief is the Premier League but the expectation is every competition. For Arsenal I think it's the Premier League. If they could chose to win one trophy now they'd chose that one. City would say no we won't sacrifice one to go for all four and believe they can win all four. That's what Pep means when he says he couldn't care less, he cares equally about everything."

Lescott, who won two Premier League titles in a five-year spell with City, said that the club's latest arrivals Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi are playing like they have title-winning experience even though they have just joined the Cityzens from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace respectively. 

"Even the players they've bought that they don't know, Marc Guehi and Semenyo, they haven't won it, they're playing like they're champions," he said. "They're playing with a calmness and not as much emotion as the Arsenal players and I think that's key. The experience that some of the players in Man City's team have, they can pass on the experience, keep calm and get it over the line hopefully."

Cole added of Semenyo and Guehi: "What they have brought in in the two boys is hunger. These boys have been fighting their whole lives to come to this stage and become champions. They're brining a hunger to it, they're bringing something to the party. They're probably walking into a dressing room thinking 'this is it, I'm at Man City, I'm gonna win titles'. They're walking into a chill place and it's allowing them to just play their games and bring something to the party. This could be one of the best January transfer windows a club fighting at the top of the Premier League has ever had. These two boys have been sensational."

City and Arsenal will go head to head for silverware two months before the Premier League title race is settled as they square off at Wembley in March in the Carabao Cup final. Arsenal last won a trophy in 2020 and Lescott believes the final will have a bigger impact on Arsenal than City whatever the result is.

"It is vital, it has a bigger significance for Arsenal," he added. "Even if they win it gives them more belief than City but it would be more detrimental to Arsenal if they lose. It could have a bigger impact on Arsenal either way, it could derail them slightly."