Danny Murphy has ruled Arsenal out of the Premier League title race due to three key fixtures. He believes that games against Tottenham and Manchester United, as well as this weekend's trip to Brighton, will see Mikel Arteta's side fall short.

Despite victories over Man City and Liverpool at home this season, and draws away, Murphy predicts the Gunners will stumble. Currently in second place, two points behind Liverpool and one ahead of Manchester City, Arsenal have eight matches left and are also competing in Europe.

However, only City will face disruption from the FA Cup.

A victory against Brighton would put Arsenal at the top of the league, at least until Liverpool face Manchester United. Regardless of the result, Murphy is glad to see City under pressure.

"This is what we want from a Premier League title race," Murphy said on talkSPORT, "Unless you're a Man City fan you probably want someone else to win it,

"I wanted Arsenal to win it last year, for example. It's not that I don't admire Man City, of course I do, it's a phenomenal team with a great manager. But we need that competition in the Premier League and this is turning into a real ding dong.

"I don't think Arsenal will get over the line, just because of the fixtures. They've got to go to Tottenham, Old Trafford and Brighton."

Mikel Arteta also believes that trio of matches will prove pivotal but refuses to understate the importance of Arsenal's games at the Emirates. Despite this, the Spaniard anticipates a challenging competition against Brighton.

He said: "Yes, but at home as well. We have the Champions League games and we have some big games at home, so every game in this league is extremely difficult. You look at last night [Thursday] what happened again and everybody is just suffering to win because the level is so high and we're going to have a really tough opponent again in Brighton. We know that, so we'll prepare well and try to be better than them and try to win."