Alan Shearer highlights Arsenal's major advantage in title race with Manchester City

Alan Shearer has hailed Arsenal's defence as superior to Manchester City's, suggesting it could be a deciding factor in the Premier League title race.

The Gunners beat Tottenham 1-0 on Sunday, thanks to a second-half header from Gabriel Magalhaes. Despite missing key players like Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, Arsenal picked up three vital points to stay top of the table.

After the win, Shearer highlighted Mikel Arteta's defensive unit as the cornerstone of Arsenal's impressive form, claiming they possess the best back line in the league.

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “I think once Arsenal are 1-0 up against you it's hard to come back because they've got the best back four in the Premier League, without a shadow of a doubt.

“They didn't really let go, Spurs just tried to put promising balls into the box and Arsenal dealt with that easily. They deserved the three points from Arsenal, without playing particularly well, which has to be a good sign.”

Arsenal's defensive solidity is reflected in their record of three clean sheets in four games, including meaningful shutouts at Aston Villa and Spurs.

Podcast co-host Gary Lineker also weighed in on the discussion, attributing much of Arsenal's defensive prowess to the central defensive partnership of Gabriel and William Saliba.

He said: “That's certainly the case I think, I mean we've mentioned Saliba a lot, but that partnership with him and Gabriel is very strong as you just said Alan.

“I mean, Gabriel is a warrior, isn't he? He's a player you really want to have on your side and he helps score goals sometimes.”

Lineker, Shearer and Micah Richards also debated whether Gabriel's goal should have been ruled out for a foul on Cristian Romero. Lineker questioned the incident, saying: “Although there was a little push? [Was it] a little help?”

This immediately provoked disagreement from Shearer who said: “No! I mean, he's got to be stronger, right? My God, Romero, wasn't he the one with a bit of appeal, wasn't he?”

Richards was hesitant but came close to finishing off a free-kick: “It probably was.” [a foul]. It was for me, I would have put 55/45 I would say in favor of a foul, I would say. I don't like to see fouls attributed for that, but he pushed it, he definitely pushed it.

Lineker concluded: “They [the referees] But we're never going to put it off!