The weekend Arsenal officially became Premier League title favourites after double derby delight – The Warm-Up

Updated 16/01/2023 at 09:07 GMT

Arsenal’s victory over Tottenham came a day after Manchester City lost at Manchester United. The eight-point gap has Gunners fans believing Premier League glory is possible, but as you will already know, there is plenty of football that lies ahead. Elsewhere, Chelsea spend even more money, Southampton leave a review, and Lord Bendtner celebrates his birthday.

Granit Xhaka of Arsenal celebrates with team mates after the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Image credit: Getty Images

MONDAY’S BIG STORIES

The Gooners are odds on

Arsenal Football Club are favourites to win the Premier League with the bookmakers. At last. The weekly expectation of “yeah but Manchester City will come back strongly” is slowly disintegrating, and it has taken an eight-point lead at the top, almost halfway through the season, for the bookies to finally accept the Gunners are in pole position to clinch a first league title for 19 years.

Transfers

Arsenal open to Jesus summer sale to fund new striker bid - Paper Round

7 hours ago

The weekend could hardly have gone better for Mikel Arteta’s side. Manchester United did them a huge favour on Saturday by coming back to win the Manchester derby against City, and then come Sunday, knowing the significance of the north London derby given the previous day’s result, Arsenal were a class above their neighbours and looked every bit like champions in waiting at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Of course, there is a long way to go, with a packed schedule in the final four months of the season, and two matches against Manchester City to come, but Arsenal are on a roll and are capable of reaching a staggering 50 points when they play their 19th league game of the campaign next week.

The opponents? Manchester United. At the Emirates. This Sunday. What a game that could be, and should Arsenal win then it really will be hard to see any side playing catch-up, bar a monumental collapse.

Oh, and we’ll leave Jamie Redknapp to explain what should happen to this football fan…

“It’s unacceptable from the Spurs fan,” Redknapp said on Sky Sports. “Ramsdale had been getting stick all game and he reacts – that’s part of football, you’re going to get stick. But for a fan to do that and to try and kick a player on the pitch, it’s unacceptable. I’m sure Spurs will act accordingly. He should not be allowed in football stadiums that guy. It’s out of order.”

Expect Spurs to take swift action, perhaps as soon as today.

Newcastle still in the hunt

On a weekend where City dropped three points, it is also worth remembering the three points gained by Newcastle, who very much remain in the mix for a Champions League place.

Sure, they benefited from a Aleksandar Mitrovic double hit when the Fulham striker stepped up to take his penalty yesterday, but still Newcastle were able to hold their nerve and score a late winner to continue their earlier-than-expected charge at the right end of the table.

Not like Eddie Howe is getting carried away, however, especially as – and we’ve said it plenty of times and probably will do more this week – this is still plenty of football to be played.

“It’s been a really good first half of the season for us,” said Howe. “We’ve improved from the start of the season to now. I think there’s still more growth in the team to come.

“I’m very pleased with the players’ commitment and what they’ve delivered for the team and for me and the club, so I think we’re in a good place.

“But the challenge only gets harder.”

The Hijack

It is a favourite of the transfer genre, the hijack, but how much do Arsenal care right about now? Probably not a jot.

Chelsea have got Mykhaylo Mudryk, having paid Shakhtar Donetsk a cool £89m to take their spending beyond £400m since the Todd Boehly-led consortium took over last year.

That’s… A lot. And so too is the contract, with Mudryk penning an eight-and-a-half-year deal, a length that makes little sense for anyone but the player himself.

"I’m so happy to sign for Chelsea," Mudryk, who was at Stamford Bridge for their nervy Sunday win over Crystal Palace. "This is a huge club, in a fantastic league and it is a very attractive project for me at this stage of my career.

"I’m excited to meet my new team-mates and I’m looking forward to working and learning under Graham Potter and his staff."

Cue the pressure on Mudryk, another wide player for Chelsea when a proper centre forward is what they are truly lacking... It doesn't seem to make too much sense, but when a hijack is possible, clubs do tend to get a bit over-excited. Let's see.

IN OTHER NEWS

There was another huge derby over in the WSL on Sunday, and it has brought the need for VAR in the women’s game to the fore after a controversial match between Arsenal and Chelsea, which was drawn 1-1.

Arsenal took the lead from the penalty spot, although the foul appeared to take place outside the area, and while Chelsea boss Emma Hayes had said “we should be demanding” VAR as long as 18 months ago, she was at least relieved to watch Sam Kerr ensure the derby spoils were shared.

“I don’t think anyone in the world can score the number of goals she has throughout her career because the standout attribute for me was that she doesn’t lose focus. Not at any point,” said Hayes.

“She stays confident in the game, she knows that it will only take one chance and she stays switched on to that. The ball from Jelena was absolutely world class but so was the leap, so was the header. I really admire that, because so often the top players have a moment (where) they switch off. Not Sam.”

IN THE CHANNELS

Superb from Southampton, who left a review after their stay on Merseyside featured just a few fireworks before winning their crunch clash with Everton on Saturday…