Arsenal ‘will win a title’ under Mikel Arteta – Patrick Vieira and Martin Keown on Premier League dream

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has built a side that will win titles in the future if not now, says Patrick Vieira, while Martin Keown believes they are no longer a “soft touch”.

The north London outfit have surprisingly set the title pace in the Premier League this season as they look to end a 19-year wait to be crowned English champions.

Vieira and Keown were both members of the legendary ‘Invincibles’ squad of 2003/04 that won the title without losing a game, and the Gunners legends believe the current crop are on course to following in their footsteps.

“That’s why I believe that Mikel and his staff deserve a lot of credit – this is a really young team. Really talented, but still really young,” Vieira told BT Sport ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Manchester City on Wednesday.

“Looking at the progress that they’ve made from last year, it’s really positive for the future. I believe that this team, if they manage to stick together, they will grow and the future is ahead of them.

“They will win a title. Because they are progressing, they are getting better on the field, understanding the game, and I believe that they are really close.”

Asked if he thinks they can win the Premier League title this season, Vieira replied: “Yeah, they’re in a really good place. If you are on the field as an Arsenal player, why believe you can’t win it?

“There is still the possibility for them to win it. But even at the end if they don’t, they managed to build something strong, so that next year they will be even closer.”

Keown won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, the first in 1997/98, and pointed to what has changed off the field as a catalyst for his former club’s transformation.

“I think the manager, what he’s done is he’s reinforced the old culture we used to have, a winning culture,” Keown said.

“These guys are winners now. Things have changed. People come to work. Look at the number of games they’ve won, the reputation for these players has changed enormously.

“They were a soft touch, they weren’t physical enough. If you play Arsenal now, you know you’re in a game. The culture has changed.”

He added: “I think back to 1997/98, after that season everyone looked at us in a different way. You have a respect. The next season it was much easier to win games.

“Arsenal are rebuilding their reputation because for years they were considered to be a soft touch.

“It’s a rebuilding process. If it doesn’t work out for them I don’t think it’s a huge collapse, or they’ve blown it or bottled it, I’m not in that camp. This team is eventually going to win something, don’t worry about that.”

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was not convinced that the Arsenal squad can be called winners, believing their title rivals Manchester City are still the standard-setters in the division.

“I think the culture is changing and Arteta has done remarkably well with that, but to go as far as to say they’re a winning team is a stretch too far right now,” Ferdinand said.

“They’ve got a great opportunity to embed that by winning the Premier League. But they’ve got to do that so that other teams look at them as the team to beat. City are the team to beat now.”

Manchester City host Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night for a crucial clash in the Premier League title race.

The Gunners are top of the table, five points ahead of City, but Pep Guardiola’s side have two games in hand.