Ian Wright insists Man City are still ‘way ahead’ of Arsenal despite 5-1 thumping
Ian Wright insists Man City are still ‘way ahead’ of Arsenal despite 5-1 thumping
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Ian Wright has declared that Manchester City are still ‘way ahead’ of his former side Arsenal and has played down talk of the clubs being rivals. The Gunners, who’ve finished as Premier League runners-up to City for the last two campaigns in a row, thumped Pep Guardiola’s side 5-1 on Sunday. Arsenal, currently second in the Premier League table, now have a nine-point lead over fourth-placed City amid a poor season for Guardiola’s men.
![[Manchester City FC v Arsenal FC - Premier League]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GettyImages-2172970949.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The last two games between Arsenal and City have led to various flare-ups, with Erling Haaland telling Mikel Arteta to ‘stay humble’ in September and asking Myles Lewis-Skelly ‘who the f**k are you?’ on his Gunners debut. This weekend’s clash also saw numerous heated moments between the two sets of players but Wright still does not view City as a rival club. Speaking on the latest episode of The Kelly and Wrighty Show, the former Arsenal striker said: ‘I don’t believe we are rivals with City.
‘City are way ahead of us in terms of what are are doing. I think they are more rivals with Liverpool. ‘Just because we have caught them up and are trying to chase them down, all of a sudden it’s a rivalry. It’s not a rivalry – it’s going to build into a rivalry. ‘With what Haaland said to [Lewis-Skelly and] Arteta, these are things that help build a rivalry. It’s in that dressing room. It’s in there.’.
Quizzed about Lewis-Skelly’s response to Haaland by copying his iconic goal celebration on Sunday, Wright added: ‘It’s part of what’s going on. ‘It’s good to see players free to feel they can do something like that. But he’s now got to deal with what comes. This was all started by City. Arsenal are just reacting.’. Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice admits that the Gunners had some extra motivation for Sunday’s clash following September’s heated showdown.
‘To win 5-1 is an unbelievable scoreline – we had fire in our bellies from what happened at the Etihad at the start of the season, we really wanted to amend that,’ Rice said. Arrow MORE: Man Utd suffer major blow as Lisandro Martinez injury fears confirmed. Arrow MORE: Jamie Carragher names the one player Liverpool should’ve signed in winter transfer window. Arrow MORE: Man Utd dealt deadline day blow in pursuit of Marcus Rashford replacement.
