Premier League

AARON RAMSDALE revealed that Arsenal’s relentless title bid has been powered by bitter rivals Spurs.The England goalkeeper is still haunted by the memory of last season’s dramatic late collapse, when the Gunners allowed Tottenham to snatch fourth place from them on the final day.
Aaron Ramsdale is relishing Arsenal’s spot at the top of the tableCredit: Alamy
And he readily admits that missing out on Champions League qualification has been a key motivation in his team’s bid to land a first Premier League title since 2004.
Wednesday’s 4-0 home win against struggling Everton has carried Arsenal five points clear of closest rivals Manchester City in the title race.
But Ramsdale is taking just as much satisfaction from the fact that they are now 15 points ahead of their fading North London neighbours.
He said: “The scars from last year are obviously driving us on.
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“No one here has forgotten what happened, especially as we lost out to the other lot down the road, which made it even worse for our fans.
“That hurt us a lot and it was a massive motivation for us at the start of this campaign.
“We were all thinking back to our mistakes at the end of last season, the times we dipped under our levels and didn’t do what he had practised all year.
“That was a big lesson for us but I’ve also found out the hard way that you can’t get too low or too high.
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“If you lose a game of football it can’t take over your whole life.
“If I had let that happen after every disappointment, I would have been sat in my house and not seeing the outside world for a long period of my short career.
“Obviously I want to win every game I play but it’s not the be all and end all at the moment.
“Of course that will change if we get to the final four or five games of the season and we’re still in this position.
“But for now it’s just playing with a group of my mates and enjoying it.”
Ramsdale, 24, knows all about dealing with pressure after suffering back-to-back relegations with Bournemouth and Sheffield United before his £30million move to the Emirates in 2021.
So it is hardly surprising he is relishing his current position at the top of the table.
Like most of his Gunners team-mates, Ramsdale has never had to deal with the expectations of challenging for a league title.
So we’re treating it as if we were tenth or 12th in the table and it’s a real enjoymentAaron Ramsdale
And he reckons that might just be working in their favour as they enter the business end of the season. He added: “Because a lot of us have not been in this situation before, we don’t really know how to handle it.
“So we’re treating it as if we were tenth or 12th in the table and it’s a real enjoyment.
“We’re just going out to play with our mates and trying to win as many games as possible.
“And it’s definitely a much nicer pressure to have than when you’re at the opposite end of the Premier League.
“It’s honestly so much easier to play when things are going well and we’re all relishing this.”
No one’s form gives Ramsdale more pleasure than his England pal Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s 11-goal top scorer whose strike set the Gunners on their way to victory against Everton.
Saka, 21, has been locked in contract talks with the club for more than a year, with a new deal expected to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
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But Ramsdale insists there is no hurry for the Emirates idol to put pen to paper. He added: “I’m fairly relaxed about Bukayo, let him crack on with his team and allow the club to sort things out so we can move forward.
“It’s obviously not affecting him. He has easily been one of the top three players in the league this season, especially when you consider his age.”
Ramsdale has been impressed by England and Gunners pal Bukayo SakaCredit: Getty More

PREMIER LEAGUE chief Richard Masters has revealed that he is NOT planning to scrap the 3pm blackout.Fans have been left frustrated in recent weeks by their inability to watch key matches.
Fans have been frustrated by the 3pm blackoutCredit: EPA
The EFL are considering scrapping the blackout ahead of their next rights deal, as they aim to raise their TV revenue from £119million a year to £200m.
But Prem chief Richard Masters has ruled out following suit – despite potential interest from streaming services Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
The Premier League adhere to Article 48 – a Uefa law that enables member nations to block games from being televised for a two-and a-half-hour period each weekend.
In England matches are prohibited from being aired between 2:45pm and 5:15pm.
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Scotland and Montenegro are the only other Uefa nations to adhere to Article 48.
On the issue, Masters said: “We’ve been proponents of Article 48 for the entire period of the Premier League and I don’t see that changing in the near term.”
The Prem’s next TV deal will be valid between 2025 and 2028.
Matches are primarily broadcast between Sky Sports and BT Sport – with Prime Video also possessing the rights to games from two matchdays per season in recent years.
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Fans recently fumed when Man United’s mid-week clash with Leeds wasn’t shown.
While Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Everton and Liverpool’s 2-0 Wolves triumph weren’t shown in the UK on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, FA Cup matches were being broadcast on ITV and the BBC. More

GARY NEVILLE has likened Manchester City’s left-back situation to when Man United legend Sir Alex Ferguson sold Jaap Stam.The Red Devils allowed the Dutch centre-half to join Lazio in 2001, despite the fact that he had years left at the top of the game.
Gary Neville chatted about Fergie’s mistakeCredit: Rex
The former full-back played under Sir Alex Ferguson for his entire careerCredit: AFP
Neville, 48, reckons that Man City are “living in a mistake” similar to United letting Stam go – after they allowed Joao Cancelo to join Bayern Munich in January.
Having sanctioned Oleksandr Zinchenko’s Arsenal switch last summer – City have been left with just Nathan Ake and even Bernardo Silva to play at left-back.
Speaking about the City boss’ possible gaffe, Neville said on The Overlap: “We’re all worried about criticising Pep Guardiola.”
He then pointed to co-host Jamie Carragher: “You’ve just said ‘who am I to question Pep Guardiola.’
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“But I look back now, you know Sir Alex Ferguson accepted quite a few quite a few of his mistakes that he made, but obviously after he retired.
“He said selling Jaap Stam was a big mistake and it cost us for two years.
“I think we’re living in a mistake here, where City haven’t got a left-back, and they’re playing Bernardo Silva there in odd games.
“(For) me, that is a mistake. That is a mistake that he has obviously contributed towards.
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Pep Guardiola allowed Joao Cancelo to leave in JanuaryCredit: Getty
“I feel a bit embarrassed criticising (Jurgen) Klopp or Guardiola but the fact of the matter is, even Sir Alex Ferguson in his 20-year career, where he won 13 titles – he got 99.9 per cent of decisions right…
“He still came out at the end of his career and talked about the Barcelona cup final, at Wembley, he talked about the Jaap Stam sale, and all the moments where he knows he got it wrong.
“I think we should be quite confident in saying what we’re watching at the moment is a team that lack a balance down that left-hand side at left-back.
“It’s just factual. And that’s why they’re not getting to their standards.
“They’re playing Ake there. He struggles on the ball a little bit, he’s a little bit awkward – he defends well.
“Bernardo Silva dips back in there but he’s a massive vulnerability.”
Despite Erling Haaland plundering 27 Prem goals to date, City trail Arsenal by five points in the title race.
They were also eliminated by Southampton in the quarter-finals of the League Cup – although Guardiola’s men are still in contention in the FA Cup and Champions League.
Erling Haaland has bagged 27 Prem goalsCredit: Reuters More