Jamie Carragher still views Arsenal as favourites to win the Premier League despite Manchester City taking an early lead in the title race.

Man City maintained their perfect start to the new season with a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town on Saturday.

That briefly sent Enzo Maresca’s side six points clear at the top of the table but Arsenal reduced the gap back to three with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest the following day.

Arsenal are bidding to retain their Premier League crown after clinching the title for the first time in 22 years last season, while Man City are hoping to become champions in their first season without legendary manager Pep Guardiola.

There remains the possibility that Man City’s efforts this season count for nothing as an independent commission decide the punishment for over 100 breaches of financial rules.

But Carragher expects Arsenal to clinch the title regardless of the outcome at the Etihad Stadium despite Mikel Arteta’s side lacking ‘stardust in the final third’.

‘We’ve said before that Arsenal are not the most exciting champions we’ve ever seen,’ Carragher told Sky Sports. ‘They still lack stardust in the final third and didn’t get that superstar over the line that they wanted in the summer.

‘There was talk of Vinicius Junior coming in obviously and Julian Alvarez but they didn’t get those deals done. They do lack star power in the final third and we saw more evidence of that on Sunday.

‘Some people will also say that Mikel Arteta has still got the reins on and is stopping them from showing their absolute best going forward because they value the defence so much.

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‘But they’ve got the best squad in the country and the best starting line-up, I don’t think anyone can go up against that really except maybe Man City.

‘We said all of this last year as well, they didn’t have a game-changer but what they had is two top-quality players in every position.

‘I still see Arsenal as the team to stop. If they dropped more points on Sunday they could have been five behind Man City.

‘We obviously don’t know what’s going to happen with City, we have to take it as it is right now.

‘Arsenal would have been a bit worried about being five points behind someone like Man City and dropping points in quick succession but they got the win.’