Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno makes bold top-four and title predictions

Safe hands: Bernd Leno
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
James Olley24 April 2019

There are not many people confident in predicting the Premier League top-four race even at this late stage but that did not stop Bernd Leno from trying.

While Manchester City and Liverpool show relentless consistency in fighting for the title, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are stumbling towards Champions League qualification, each as seemingly fallible as the other.

Spurs tightened their grip on third place with a 1-0 win over Brighton on Tuesday night but the Gunners will look to get back on track at Wolves 24 hours later after Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Palace ended a 10-game League home winning streak.

With the Manchester derby taking place as the Gunners are engaged at Molineux, the Premier League summit could look very different by 10pm on Wednesday evening but after taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Leno laid out his version of the run-in, one which has a happy ending of sorts for the whole of north London.

“I think Man City [will be] first because Liverpool have the Champions League and maybe [they will] lose a little bit of power and energy from that,” said the keeper. “I believe they have a realistic chance [in the semi-final] against Barcelona — it’s 50/50.

“So, I think Man City only have the FA Cup Final and Premier League. And at the end it will be us and I think Tottenham because they have two home games. I believe in our quality and it’s in our hands. I don’t care about the other teams. So, if we are in the top four everything is okay for me.”

That quality has not always been visible on the road this season but if last Monday’s win at Watford was fortuitous, Arsenal followed it up with an authoritative away day in Napoli to reach the Europa League semi-finals. Three of the Gunners’ remaining four League games are away from home and a late flurry of consistency is essential.

Leno believes 10 points will be required to secure a top-four berth, something which could be pivotal to Unai Emery’s summer plans and the club’s progress following Arsene Wenger’s 22-year tenure.

“We have to focus on every game and we have to win against Wolves,” he said. “At the end, if 10 points is enough or 12 points is enough… I think 10 points could be enough.

“The key is the defence. When you saw the games in the last weeks, we won when the defence was good and we didn’t concede easy goals. If we can have more clean sheets away then we have a big chance to win because we have quality strikers who have opportunities to score at every time.”

Wolves may still be licking their wounds from a painful FA Cup semi-final defeat by Watford having lost at Southampton before being held at home to Brighton but their record against the top six this season should sharpen Arsenal minds.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have earned 13 points against the top six — only Liverpool and City have amassed more — totalling just three defeats from 10 games.

That includes November’s 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium in which Wolves were four minutes away from securing an impressive victory before Henrikh Mkhitaryan struck.

“I know many players before like Raul Jimenez or Ruben Neves so I’m not totally surprised about their quality,” Leno added.

“It shows the quality of the small teams in the Premier League or when they go up from the Championship. And I know the Premier League even more — all the teams are strong. There are no easy games compared to other countries. But in the past weeks and months we were very strong and we go to Wolves to win this game.”

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