Jamie Carragher delivers fresh Arsenal title prediction as Premier League warning made - 'By far'

Jamie Carragher has claimed that Arsenalare the "by far the best team" in the Premier League right now. The Gunners face Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium, looking to extend their lead at the top of the table.

Mikel Arteta's side were two points above second-place Sunderland in the table, and have been on a roll of late, winning each of their last six matches across all competitions and three in the top flight.

It's a complete contrast to last season's champions Liverpool, who are on a run of four straight losses in the Premier League, following Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Brentford. Should the Reds continue to slump, Manchester City, who head to Aston Villa at 2pm, are expected to be Arsenal's closest challengers for the title.

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Delivering his verdict on the Gunners, Carragher said: "I think if Arsenal can win today you think of the daylight between them and Liverpool, but also Manchester City if they don't get maximum points [against Aston Villa].

"I am looking at Arsenal right now and they look by far the best team in the country right now. It's very early days, of course it is, but they need to capitalise on the situation they find themselves in because they could get a sizeable lead in these early stages."

Micah Richards added: "I think Arsenal have been absolutely brilliant, they can win in any way. Yes, we've talked about the set pieces, defensively, but I actually I think with [Viktor] Gyokeres and the way he stretches opposition getting [Eberechi] Eze, [Bukayo] Saka involved, [Gabriel] Martinelli running in behind, [Leandro] Trossard getting in them pockets, I think they're a brilliant team.

"Watching them in the Champions League against Atletico. I thought it was going to be two teams that sat back and it be very difficult, but they went there, expressed themselves.

"I said a couple of weeks ago I thought they had the handbrake on, but they've taken the handbrake off now and Arsenal, if they want it, it's certainly there for them."

Speaking pre-match, Arteta admitted that Arsenal must be at their best to get a positive result. "If we want a very different outcome, we'd better do very different things than we did last year, especially in these fixtures," he said.

"We know what Palace are doing, what Oliver [Glasner] is doing for the football club, and the way they are getting results. So it's going to be a really tough match, but we're going to play again in front of our crowd, and we are confident that if we hit our level, we have a big chance to win it."