Former Arsenal Invincible Lauren gives his verdict on Arsenal's title credentials, with them favourites in the Premier League betting to lift the trophy, ahead of their game against second-placed Manchester City.

Who do you think is going to win the Premier League and why?

It’s going to be tight until the end of the season.

City will lose points, Arsenal will lose points, as will Manchester United and Newcastle. We saw that a couple of weekends ago with Arsenal's defeat against Everton and City's defeat against Tottenham so it's not going to be as clear as we thought.

I'm a little bit concerned about Arsenal, not about the performance of the team. I'm more concerned how their players can handle the big pressure. When the title is very close, how will they address the pressure and deal with the big moments?

Which players in particular do you think are going to are going to find it hard to cope with that pressure?

I don’t want to pick out an individual, I believe it’s something that the entire dressing room will have to deal with. I've been in this situation many times, not only with Arsenal, but with the national team when you get to quarter finals and semi-finals. You have to be fully focused on mental strength and have a strong mentality. You need that to win anything.

You've played in title decider games against Man Utd and this City game is probably an equivalent for Arsenal this season, what were they like to play in?

All professionals love to play in those games, when you're fighting to win something, fighting to win to lift the Premier League. It's not easy, but as a professional you love to play those games. I remember when we played Manchester United at Old Trafford and won the title in 2002, that was one of my favourite games I ever played in.

What are the qualities that you need to be able to play well in those games?

First of all, you have to know that you are in that position because you've been the best team so far. If you are close to winning the Premier League it’s because you are in a quality team. You have to have good coaches, a strong spirit in the dressing room and good players.

If you have those three factors, it's easy to win games, it’s easy to perform well. We had those attributes: quality, good coaches and a strong spirit among the dressing room.

The atmosphere at Highbury was famous during those games. Can the Emirates compete?

I've never played at the Emirates, so I can’t tell you much about that but Highbury was a special place. Before you arrived at the stadium, you could see houses around and suddenly you see the stadium. I wouldn't have changed anything, it was the best ground in the Premier League.

So, of course, Highbury was very special, and I would get this team to play there. You could get closer to the fans and you could feel them next to you. For me, Highbury is a better stadium to play in, the fans can push you on.

How much will Pep Guardiola regret selling Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal?

I’m not sure what Pep is thinking, but all I know is we've got a fantastic player. He gives us a lot defensively, and he helps us dominate the middle of the park.

This Arsenal squad dominate the opposition. In order to do that, you need a player like Zinchenko. He’s a player who can come inside and get closer to Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka to help take control of midfield.

It feels like in Zinchenko and Xhaka as well among others, Arsenal have got a lot of vocal leaders on the pitch. How much of a difference have those leadership qualities made this season?

You need those leaders on the pitch and in the dressing room in order to win things. We are lucky that we have so many. Against City and in the other games we are going to face between now and the end of the season, we’re going to need all of them.

How much of an impact can Gabriel Jesus have when he is fit again, and where does that leave Eddie Nketiah?

The more quality players we have in the squad, the better it will be for the team. I would never worry about Jesus coming back in and Nketiah maybe going out. It’s a positive that there is such a level of competitiveness in the dressing room. Jesus is going to be a fantastic addition when he returns.

Given the choice of the two, which one would you start?

They’re both brilliant players, so it would be unfair for me to pick. Jesus will need a few games to get back to where he was, but he’s a fantastic player. His game doesn’t just rely on scoring goals, he can drop into the middle of the park and combine with the midfielders. That can allow the wide players like Gabriel Martinelli or Bukayo Saka to come inside as well. He gives you a lot and will better the performance of the team overall.

Arsenal wanted Mykhalo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo in January and missed out on both, how do you see that affecting the title race?

I don’t believe it will have an effect on the title race. We’re not going to lose the title because we didn’t sign Mudryk or Caicedo.

This squad have been performing very well since the beginning of the season, they’ve got more than 50 points so far. It’s not a question of who could come in, it’s about making sure the players there maintain their level until the end of the season. When the pressure builds, how the players deal with it is my biggest concern. 

They did bring in Leandro Trossard and Jorginho, what do you make of those signings?

They’re very good signings. Trossard has been brilliant, he’s been really positive when he’s played. Starting on the left, he connects with the striker and shoots on sight with both feet. He can take players on with his left and right and he understands how to combine with other players in the final third. I’d like to see him score a goal, but so far Trossard has been absolutely brilliant. He looks like he’s been an Arsenal player for a long time, not just a few weeks.

We all know Jorginho and he fits into the mentality of Mikel Arteta, who tries to dominate the middle of the pitch.

Arsenal have been linked with summer moves for Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and Caicedo again, who would you like to see them go after to cement their position as a title challenger?

That’s the kind of question to ask Edu, the technical director. If you ask me, I wouldn’t want to start thinking about that yet before we have won the Premier League. I wouldn’t want to put more pressure on these players, I want them to try and maintain the great job they’ve been doing up to now. If we manage to win the league, then we can talk about new signings. But at the moment, we need to keep calm.

Obviously we can’t get too ahead of ourselves, but with Ansu Fati also being linked with a move to the Emirates, how exciting is it to hear these names?

They are all top players. We’ve seen Bellingham’s performances at Borussia Dortmund and the World Cup, he’s an amazing player.

I’ve been watching Fati since he was in the Sevilla academy, here in the south of Spain, and he’s absolutely brilliant, he has a lot of talent.

But again, it’s not the main priority now. The main priority is to try to beat Manchester City and try to win the Premier League. Wait until the summer and then we can think about those players. Of course, we would all love to see the world’s best players at Arsenal, but it’s not the right moment to think about that.

But do you think to maintain their level and make sure they have longevity, they have to go and get some players in to supplement what they have already got?

We need to win the Premier League and then carry on building the squad and trust in Arteta.

Arteta played under Arsene Wenger and coached under Pep Guardiola, what similarities in him can you see from those two?

It’s easy to see what he has taken from Arsene from a tactical point of view. The philosophy from my time at the club is still there. Try to dominate, play out from the back, keep possession with quick transitions, that’s Arsenal.

With Guardiola, you can see that he tries to get his full backs into the middle of the pitch and try to be an extra man. We saw that with Guardiola when he was at Bayern Munich with the way he managed Philipp Lahm and you can see it with Arteta and Zinchenko.

When the team try and dominate a team in their own half and lose the ball, everybody is in the right position to be able to win it back. That’s Guardiola, that’s Barcelona.

We can see those kind of concepts with Arteta, although the systems are different.

What are the limits to what Arteta can achieve as manager of Arsenal?

He’s been doing a fantastic job since being at Arsenal and he keeps building. He won the FA Cup in 2020 and now he’s got us competing at the highest level. Next year, we’ll be in the Champions League. What’s the limit? We don’t know, but we need to keep backing him.

How likely is it that we are seeing a new era at the top of the Premier League with Arsenal clearly having money to spend and performing well compared to City, who have potentially damaging off-field issues?

I had dinner together with Edu over summer and it’s clear that he will having the backing of the board.

But like I said earlier, there’s no rush. We can’t put more pressure onto the boys, Arteta or the club. Nobody needs to panic in the last few months, stick to their strong mentality.

All the teams that have won things in our generation, think about Manchester United and Chelsea, they had a strong mentality.

Get to the end of the season, I know that Arteta, Edu and the club will have the support of the board in order to keep building.

Which of the current Arsenal squad would get into the Invincibles starting XI?

I’ve got to stick with my fellow team-mates and choose them, I can’t choose anyone to get rid of. Saka and Odegaard have been brilliant this season, but I’ll stick.