Sky Sports pundit hopeful of Arsenal’s chances of a top-four finish

Former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas believes the Gunners have a reasonable chance of finishing in the top four this season after building up a four-match winning streak. The north Londoners begun the season in the worst possible way after back-to-back losses at the hands of Manchester City and Chelsea but they have since been propping up the table with four successive victories.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Nicholas admitted that he did not see the Gunners making the top four at the beginning but their fortunes could change over the course of the season with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur not replicating the form from the previous campaign, he said: “At the moment I am pleased with the response from the first two defeats, everybody can see we have a real problem trying to adjust to the new manager’s policy defensively. My prediction at the start of the season was that Arsenal and Chelsea were going to be the two to miss out because there was too much toing and froing. I think that gap has closed for them because Man United are average and Spurs are struggling a little bit.”

Arsenal have been offered a rather winnable fixture list following the games against Manchester City and Chelsea but it could be said that they have improved on the results on the road where they managed just one league win during the backend of the previous campaign. With the winning streak, the Gunner have jumped to sixth on the table with 12 points but they could make further progress before the next international break with teams ahead of them facing the prospect of losing points.

The Gunners are scheduled to entertain high-flying Championship Brentford in the third round of the Carabao Cup in midweek. The north Londoners have not faced their city counterparts since 1947 but they were beaten 2-1 in a pre-season friendly this summer where Bernd Leno had supposedly dropped a clanger.