Arsenal lost the title – Allardyce

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has slammed Arsene Wenger, saying Arsenal will never get a better chance to win another Premier League title.

Arsenal’s chances of winning a first league title since 2004 were dealt a blow with their 3-3 draw against West Ham on Saturday.

Wenger’s men are 10 points adrift of surprise leaders Leicester City, who visit relegation-threatened Sunderland on Sunday.

Allardyce reminded Wenger of just how big a chance Arsenal have let slip this season.

“They won’t get a better time to win the league than this season,” he said.

“A normal season would have seen Leicester, having the season they’ve had, maybe finishing in the top four, which would have been miraculous.

“But they’ve had an opportunity that, without any doubt, Arsenal have missed. Leicester have taken it and Arsenal have lost it.

“We were all saying, ‘What a chance for Arsenal’. They were going to take advantage of the [Manchester] City, Chelsea and [Manchester] United slip-ups and win the league. But Leicester have shown everybody how to do it.”

Along with the emergence of several talents at Leicester, Allardyce believes the club have also been able to capitalise on momentum.

“Excitement can bring that consistently high level of performance from players that perhaps haven’t achieved it before,” Allardyce said.

“That revolves around this stadium that they have, that the supporters start before they even kick a ball and tell the players how much they love them.

“Then you have Jamie Vardy scoring 11 on the trot, which builds the euphoria even greater. Then you have him and [Riyad] Mahrez scoring and the team gaining confidence all the time.”