Ex-Man United ace Robin van Persie makes league title prediction amid Man City vs Arsenal battle

Former Manchester United striker Robin van Persie is backing Arsenal to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.

Ahead of the campaign resuming this weekend, Arsenal boast an eight-point advantage at the top of the table but have played a game more. The Gunners took full advantage of City being in FA Cup action just over a week ago, defeating Crystal Palace 4-1 to open up a healthy gap at the summit.

Both sides, who have each contributed to a thrilling title race thus far, will resume their respective campaigns on Saturday. City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium in the lunchtime kick-off, aiming to get revenge on Jurgen Klopp's side for their 1-0 defeat at Anfield earlier this season, while Arsenal host Leeds United at 3pm.

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A victory for Pep Guardiola's side, even if only for a short while, would move them back to within five points of the Londoners. But even though City have a game in hand and still have to play Arsenal at the Etihad next month, Van Persie is tipping his old club to come out on top and bag their first league title since 2004.

"If you look at this period in time this is where every single point counts," Van Persie told Sky Sports. "They've [Arsenal] had a couple of difficult games and got three points there and that's what a champions team is made of. They've been proving that.

"But the last stretch is always the difficult one. But my personal feeling is that they'll go for it and they'll do it and win the league.

"It's been a while, so I'm happy for them to win it."

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