Owen Hargreaves makes top-four prediction as Arsenal and Tottenham defeats give Manchester United hope

Owen Hargreaves has made his Premier League top-four prediction after Tottenham and Arsenal both suffered defeats to give Manchester United real hope of qualifying for the Champions League.

It appeared as those the final top-four spot would go to one of the north London clubs after United dropped points in six of their last nine games ahead of this weekend’s round of fixtures.

Arsenal emerged as the favourites to finish fourth after impressing under Mikel Arteta but the Gunners have lost their last three games without scoring to slip to sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Spurs with a game in hand.

Their poor run started at Crystal Palace earlier in the month and Arsenal were beaten at home by Brighton last weekend before losing 1-0 to Southampton on Saturday.

With Arsenal threatening to fall away, Tottenham could have climbed six points clear of their top-four rivals but Antonio Conte’s side were beaten 1-0 by Brighton in Saturday’s early fixture.

With Manchester United subsequently beating Norwich City 3-2 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick, the three clubs are now separated by just three points, while West Ham will look to renew their top-four hopes on Sunday when they host struggling Burnley, who sacked Sean Dyche on Friday.

Former England star Hargreaves fears for Arsenal due to their tough run of fixtures and expects United’s ‘inconsistency’ to rear its head before the end of the season, leaving Tottenham to clinch the final Champions League spot.

‘Fixture-wise, it’s tough for Arsenal,’ he said on Premier League Productions. ‘They struggled against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton.

‘They’ve got Chelsea, Man United, West Ham, Leeds and Tottenham coming up. Looking at Arsenal’s fixtures I’m saying no.

‘I