Patrice Evra predicts where Arsenal are going to finish this season

Patrice Evra believes that Arsenal have what it takes to go on and win the Premier League this season.

The north London side are currently five points clear at the top of the English top flight and have earned lots of praise for their strong performances this season.

Their only defeat so far this term came in a 3-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford back at the start of September – and the only other blip on their otherwise perfect record was their 1-1 draw against Southampton in October.

Arsenal continued their strong form by coming from a goal down to claim a 3-1 victory against West Ham United at The Emirates on Boxing Day, a result which moved them eight points clear of Manchester City before Pep Guardiola’s men beat Leeds United 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Next up for the Gunners is a trip to Brighton and Hove Albion on New Year’s Eve, before home game against Newcastle United on 3 January.

Former Manchester United full-back Evra believes that Mikel Arteta’s side have already demonstrated that they have what it takes to go all the way in the title race this season and he is backing them to lift the trophy for the first time since 2004.

Writing in his column for Betfair, Evra said about who he thinks will win the title: “I still want to say City but, hands up, Arsenal. I know I’m going to make the Arsenal fans happy, I love the way they play. I always believed in Arteta, they gave him more time and look at what they are doing now.

“I think the Arsenal fans that say they won’t win the league say it because they are scared of having false hope and the other fans that say it are jealous and don’t want them to win the league.

Sky Sports pundit Patrice Evra

“As a former United player, they (Arsenal) deserve to win the league, they’ve beaten big teams, and how the second part goes depends on this transfer window. I will say, my opinion is judged on what has happened in the first half. Like I keep saying, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

With the January transfer window fast approaching, Arsenal have been credited with an interest in signing Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk in recent days.

Arsenal boss Arteta was quizzed about whether the Gunners are considering a move for the 23-year-old after the Gunners’ win over West Ham, but the Spaniard remained coy about the transfer rumours.

Asked whether there’s any truth to Arsenal’s links to Mudryk, Arteta replied: “You know that I never speak to other players that are not with us.

“And it might be that you have to ask me the question but we said that we will try to find ways to strengthen the team. We will find the right players and that’s all I can say.”

Mudryk watched the Arsenal win over West Ham United on Boxing Day and shared a photo of the match on TV on his Instagram story.

However, Arteta was not reading too much into the winger’s post on social media. “It’s a good thing for England that you don’t have many other matches in other countries,” he replied when asked about Mudryk’s post. “We are the only ones playing through Christmas so hopefully, a lot of people watched our game and we gave them a good show.”

Meanwhile, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano said on Thursday morning that Shakhtar were due to hold fresh talks with Arsenal about the proposed transfer of Mudryk.

Posting on Twitter, Romano wrote: “Shakhtar CEO Palkin: ‘Now, literally in five minutes, I will have a new phone call conversation with Arsenal for Mykhaylo Mudryk deal.'”