Koeman: Arsenal, City out of title race

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman believes Arsenal and Manchester City are not in contention for the Premier League title following Leicester City’s victory on Monday.

League leaders Leicester consolidated their five-point advantage ahead of Tottenham with a hard-fought 1-0 win against lowly Newcastle United.

The result left Arsenal 11 points adrift, while City are a point further back, though both teams have a match in hand.

However, Koeman said there is only one other challenger to Leicester remaining.

“It will be a fight between Tottenham and Leicester,” Koeman said via Sky Sports.

“In my opinion, that’s the difference between before and after this result. It’s a new situation for Leicester.

“Eleven points from Arsenal, 12 points from Manchester City, they are out of the title.”

“Tottenham are still close, but it’s now a fight between two teams,” Koeman added.

“Before this game it was still a fight between four or five. That’s the difference and it starts to run in your mind as a Leicester player.

“Before today the manager [Claudio Ranieri] was still mentioning the Europa League but after the result, they have Champions League. Now it’s about second or first place. That’s the title and it’s a different situation to what it was before the game.”