Hansen: Little hope for Gunners

Former Liverpool legend Alan Hansen has said that he believes Arsenal are now all but out of the Premier League title race after last weekend's defeat to Aston Villa.

Hansen told Football Pools.com that while Arsene Wenger's team may have impressed a week earlier against champions Manchester United, they have almost certainly lost too many games already to be real title contenders.

"Just a week after beating Manchester United, Arsene Wenger's young side came crashing down to earth at home to Aston Villa," he said.

"This has led to them being written out of the title race by the majority of the press. I would have to say I agree that it would be extremely hard for them to win the title now.

"Few teams can afford to lose 4 League matches in a season, let alone in your first 13 games.

"The Gunners may have been incredibly good against United but they were the complete opposite against Villa. When they play well they can beat anyone but when they play poorly they don't have the capacity to grind out results like Chelsea or Liverpool have been doing.

"They are not mathematically out of the title race of course but they bookies don't make them 4th favourites for nothing!"

To read the full column by Alan Hansen, click here...