Adrian Durham: Arsenal winning the Premier League will be unbearable, here’s why they must be stopped

Adrian Durham is one of many people supporting Manchester City on a purely rental basis.

City, as was the case when they went up against Liverpool in title races, have garnered support from unexpected sources as the race for the trophy develops into a two-horse contest.

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Pep Guardiola’s side are five points behind leaders Arsenal and have played a match less than them.

City do boast the advantage of possessing league-winning experience having edged Mikel Arteta’s men to glory in two title races over the last four years.

However, Durham believes it’s finally Arsenal’s time this term, although the talkSPORT host is hoping he will be proved wrong.

“I want to qualify what I said a moment ago about stopping Arsenal winning the league,” Durham said on Kick Off.

“I actually think they will win the league and I think they’ve been the best team so far.

“So if they do win the league there’s not a lot any of us can do about it. There’s a lot of people who don’t want Arsenal to win the league.”

It’s the fans

Durham was immediately quizzed on why he’s hoping Arsenal will fall short again given he supports League One Peterborough United.

“Have you met any Arsenal fans?” Durham responded to pundit Shaun Custis.

“It’s just their fans, it will be unbearable.”

“I think Arsenal are kind of louder, noisier most and I think that they were so negative about their football club for so long that it was just, it was too brutal,” Durham continued.

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“You know they were…remember Emmanuel Eboue got booed to the point where he cried as he went off the pitch. That’s his own fans doing that.

“So now I’m now looking at these Arsenal fans thinking, ‘oh you’re giving it the big’un. They give it the big’un about us’.

“They give it the big”un about Arsene Wenger’s football, how brilliant it was.

“Now they’re loving this, seriously? And even though I haven’t got a problem with Arsenal’s football it’s nowhere near what they were doing at the turn of the century. You’ve got me started on one now.”

Agenda against Arsenal?

Fans and the media’s reporting of Arsenal’s season has been a big talking point on talkSPORT’s airwaves, with former Gunners player Emmanuel Petit slamming the ‘Set Piece FC’ label they’ve been given.

Commenting on media reports about Arsenal, Petit said: [They] always try to give negative comments, never see the positive side. Never try to find something positive.

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“It’s like seeing the empty glass or the full glass. It’s always the same old story.”

“Even when Arsenal win a game, just like yesterday, it’s about set pieces. Okay, so is it important to win the three points?

“Nobody is saying anything positive, all the time. I mean, it’s very rare, actually.

“I read the newspaper this morning. It’s kind of negative, you know? It’s like: ‘Set Piece FC’, things like this.

“But at the end of the day, it’s three points. I mean, just say it.”

State of play

Arsenal lived up to their ‘Set Piece FC’ tag in their latest outing which saw them claim a narrow 2-1 win over Chelsea.

Both goals came via corners, with William Saliba heading the ball off Chelsea defender Mamadou Sarr for the opener before Jurrien Timber’s header beyond a crowd of players in the six yard box sealed the three points.

As mentioned, the result means Arsenal maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with City beating Leeds 1-0 at Elland Road last weekend.

Next up for Arsenal is a tricky test at Brighton on Wednesday night with City entertaining Nottingham Forest on the same evening.