Arsene Wenger, Mesut Ozil Comment on Arsenal's Title Chances After City Win

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger downplayed the club's chances of winning this season's Premier League crown despite Monday's 2-1 win over Manchester City, but Mesut Ozil believes his team can claim the top prize.

A home victory against the Citizens put the Gunners back within two points of Leicester City and four points in front of Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini's men. But Wenger still feels talk of silverware is premature, per Chisanga Malata of the Daily Star:

"

It is too early to talk about the title. But we are up there. It gives us confidence. I believe we have a very strong spirit, there is life in the team.

There is exceptional life in this team. Every win strengthens your belief and even more in a big game like that. We have something really special there. We have good desire to improve and we earned the right to win in these games. You could see when the legs went they still kept going, that's fantastic to see.

"

Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud each netted before the half-time whistle to thrust the Gunners to a 2-0 lead on Monday, and City star Yaya Toure only pulled back his consolation for the visitors after 82 minutes.

It was the kind of display that tends to play a heavy role in where the trophy ends up, and the Guardian's Michael Cox didn't hold back in dubbing the fixture "the most important" of this season's title hunt:

Wenger is eager to ensure his players don't get ahead of themselves, lest he see the north Londoners succumb to the close-but-no-cigar storyline to which they've fallen victim in previous seasons.

Midfield marvel Ozil is among Arsenal's higher bracket of players who expect to be challenging for major trophies at the Emirates, and he emphasised his team's candidacy as title contenders, per the Sun's Paul Jiggins:

"We have had a lot of difficult games and are happy to win against Man City—all the team are happy, and me too. We know our quality, if we play our game we can win the league. We will play our best all season to try and win the title."

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

The former Real Madrid playmaker has been a leading figure in Arsenal's title charge, and Ozil's 15 assists have paved the way for his outfit to succeed despite the injury crisis plaguing their ranks this term.

In what's being looked upon by many as the most open Premier League season to date, Leicester have defied the odds to lead the English top flight at Christmas, having lost just one game so far in the campaign.

That sole loss came in the form of a 5-2 defeat at home to Arsenal in late September, a result that might have gone underestimated as a potential title decider at the time.

Second place right now may not feel rewarding, but OptaJoe revealed the omens are good for the Gunners heading into the Boxing Day fixtures at second in the table:

Despite the swell of support that's emerging behind relative minnows Leicester, there is the sneaking suspicion that manager Claudio Ranieri's upstarts will eventually fade, giving way to one of the division's regular leading names.

Should that be the case, Arsenal stand ready to step in at the drop of a hat, and although Wenger has attempted to nip it in the bud, talk of the club's first title since 2004 is growing at Arsenal.