Not since the Invincibles have the Gunners been crowned champions of England but under the guidance of Mikel Arteta a young, vibrant side have emerged as unlikely challengers.
The jitters have begun to set in, however, with five points dropped against Everton and Brentford in each of the long-time pacesetters’ last two matches.
Indeed, City can regain top spot with a win against Arsenal in Wednesday’s summit meeting and Wenger fears his old club will regret not capitalising on their incredible start to the campaign given how their traditional rivals are likely to come back fighting next term.
He told beIN Sport: You win it when you can win it and you don’t care too much about the rest you take the title and let the rest talk about it.
‘I agree the conditions next season won’t be as favourable as they are now so lets not miss this opportunity. Arsenal has 51 points after 21 games which is remarkable.
‘I feel the usual threats are all out of the race. The only threat is City and even City is no not as dominant as they were last year or two years before and I feel since the start of the season City was more vulnerable defensively than before.’
Wenger returned to the Emirates Stadium in December for the first time since his emotional departure at the end of the 2017/18 season to watch the Boxing Day victory over West Ham.
The legendary Frenchman insisted he had mixed feelings about coming back but revealed he was impressed with what he saw when he visited the home dressing room.
He said: ‘I wanted to take my family there and I think it’s the end of the chapter, I was happy to see the players in the dressing room after. It was mixed feelings, I sweat to make this stadium for 10 or 12 years every penny.
‘It was a good feeling to see what it is now with the crowd happy the team is doing well. Part of your life is over forever so a bit mixed feelings.
‘I felt at the start it was good to take a distance and not sit there straight away and be a weight for the guy who is there. Today it’s all different and I thought it was the right moment. The timing was a fraction late but it was good around Christmas as well so it was nice.
‘I like what I saw and I like what I felt in the dressing room. I feel the team spirit is great the humility and hunger of the young players is absolutely amazing. They are humble and hungry.
‘They are good enough, there is always a period when you have not won that the tension comes in like now where you have to deal with it and get over. Maybe it’s not bad to play a team like City now where you have nothing to lose. You are not super favourites against Brentford you are that’s where the tension creeps in.’
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