'Don't sleep on Arsenal' - AFTV's Robbie Lyle says the Gunners are serious contenders for the league

Huge win yesterday for Arsenal against Manchester City. We're going to speak to Robbie Lyle from Arsenal TV now. Very good morning to you, Robbie. And it is a very good morning if you're an Arsenal fan, isn't it? It's a beautiful morning. Beautiful morning. What did you make of the win yesterday and how much do you feel it could do psychologically? I thought it was a fantastic win. Psychologically, it's huge. We haven't beaten City for so long, I think since 2015. They always seem to turn us over. To be fair to them, they beat us home and away last season and then won the league. We really needed to get that victory against them. I thought we were fully deserved of our win yesterday. We played in a different style. We limited their chances. Erling Haaland, I've never seen him so quiet in a game. It was unbelievable how Saliba and Gabriel kept him quiet. I think we fully deserved our win. I think what we sent out the message to Man City and everybody else in the league, don't sleep on Arsenal this year. We are serious contenders for the league. I'm not saying at this early stage we're going to win it because we've seen City with their great comebacks and going on great runs, but I just felt that we've shown Man City this is twice we've beaten them now. We've beaten them in the Community Shield, we've beaten them again yesterday. We're showing them that we're serious this year. How big will this be for Mikel Arteta himself, having been pipped by Pep Guardiola in Manchester City at the end of last season in the Premier League, to get this victory early on in this one? Yeah, absolutely huge for Arteta because he's never beaten Pep in the Premier League before this. So again, psychologically, to get that victory over Pep, there's always the joke about he used to put the cones out at Man City. Well, I think he's returned the cones now. The cones are back at City. He's really establishing himself as a really, really top manager and he's having a really good time at the moment. I mean, Arsenal, I heard what you just said about Tottenham fans saying they've been under the radar. I think we've been under the radar a bit because we haven't been scintillating so far this season, but we're unbeaten. We haven't lost a game yet this season and we've beaten Man United, we've beaten Man City. We've beaten some good sides. So I'm really optimistic about this season that we can definitely mount another title challenge. How key do you think it was that you managed to get that victory without Bakayo Saka? It was the 87 consecutive league games he's started and I guess one of the criticisms last year where Arsenal fell away is their squad just wasn't good enough and maybe Arteta didn't trust some of those peripheral players. How different does it feel this time round? Yeah, listen, that's one of the things. The squad this year is definitely better. I remember last year when we played them, I think it was at the Etihad, we had no Thomas Partey. Sorry, I think it was at the Emirates. We had no Thomas Partey. You saw a massive difference. I remember we played them at the Etihad. We had to have Rob Holding in because Saliba was out. You saw big differences, big holes in the team, but now the squad is a lot, lot better. Declan Rice has come in. We can go without Thomas Partey now. Then Declan Rice is in there. Jorginho has come into the squad. I thought he played really well yesterday. Jay Zeus yesterday filled in that role where Saka would normally be and he was brilliant, I thought, on the day. The squad has improved as well. It really has improved. What I like about Mikel Arteta, he seems to be learning from errors from last year. You look at Man City. You can't go gung-ho against Man City. You have to change your strategy a bit. That's what he's done in both games that we've played him so far this season, both in the Community Shield and yesterday. Squad-wise, he's learned. He's learned that our squad was too thin last year. He's improved that as well. I'm seeing improvements. I'm seeing somebody who's learning from errors. That's always a good thing because we all make mistakes, but it's what you do to turn those around and what learnings you take from that. You listed a few forwards there. Do you think you are short of one out-and-out striker? I do. I still think if we had a real killer striker up front, that would be huge for Arsenal. The Ivan Toney, he's lurking around. We've linked with him a lot. Maybe Arsenal should try and make a move for him in January. I still think we could do with a striker, but even without a striker, the guys who are playing right across that forward line are doing really, really well this season. Defensively, we've been solid as well. I think a top, top draw striker would be brilliant. At the other end, let's talk goalkeepers. I bet at the beginning of the season, you probably didn't see this coming, did you? Davide Rea in that number one spot. What did you make of his performance yesterday? Certainly, Gary Neville, quite critical at times. He did say that his confidence just looked a little bit shaky. Yes, he looked a little bit nervous to me at the start of the game. I was at the game and watching some of the things he was doing. I was like, hey, you're moving a bit too slow. You need to speed it up a bit. He did have that shaky moment when Alvarez nearly closed him down. Then I did feel, though, that he grew in confidence as the game went on. In the second half, he was much, much better and helped to control the tempo and tone of how Arsenal played. I think shaky first half, but he recovered very well in the second half. We've got two top-quality goalkeepers, so any error he makes, anything he does that's not quite on it, he's under pressure because Aaron Ramsdale, I notice the cameras will always pan to Ramsdale as soon as he makes a mistake. Ramsdale hasn't done anything wrong. He's been superb for us as well. I think Aaron Ramsdale is a bit unlucky not to be starting games, but then you also have to look on it and say, well, Raya, in the league, he hasn't lost any games when he's been in goal and he's conceded very few. Just looking at the table now, you are second and you know who's top. Only on goals scored, it has to be said. So, Arsenal and Tottenham in the top two. Do you quite like that as an Arsenal fan or would you prefer to see Tottenham languishing? Rather see them languishing! Silly question, Tom! That is a crazy... That's a ridiculous question! Languishing! I'll put it a different way, then. Imagine you're top two all season and you nick it this year to Tottenham finish second but only just to you. What would that be like? That would be glorious. Can you see it happening? Listen, I mean, like you said, they're only top... We've got almost an identical record, but they've scored more goals than us. But they have played three promoted teams in their run. And I do think they've rode their luck a bit. Listen, I did feel that when they came to the Emirates, they played well. I have to give them their dues for that. They played well and it deserved to be a draw. And they've definitely improved Tottenham, so we have to give them their dues. But, you know, we found this out last season. It's not about being top now. It's about where you are, you know, come May. So they've started well, but so have we, you know what I mean? And I'm just interested in us at this moment in time. And as I said, yeah, they've got a better goal scored, but they've played three promoted teams in there. You know, they're in Sheffield United and Luton and teams like that where we haven't played none of those teams yet. Brilliant. Thank you very much for your time this morning, Robbie. Thank you very much.