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• Arsenal's season a positive step even if title eludes them, says Parlour

  Arsenal will be better for the experience of pushing Manchester City close even if they fail to capture the Premier League title this season, says former Gunners midfielder Ray Parlour.

  Having dropped away during the run-in as City captured their third straight title in 2022-23, Mikel Arteta's side have kicked on this campaign and currently hold a one-point lead at the summit.

  However, City have three games to play to Arsenal's two, leaving the Gunners praying for a slip-up from the champions, who face Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham in their remaining fixtures.

  While Parlour finds it difficult to see City dropping points at this stage, he believes this season has been another positive step for Arteta's team, whatever the outcome.

  Parlour, an ambassador for NetBet, told Stats Perform: "I think it's been so positive this season. 

  "Even if they do come second, I think they've got better from last year and that's all you can keep doing, keep improving. 

  "We all know Man City are an absolute machine. Arsenal just have to keep trying to improve. It's a young team, they'll learn every year by going close, by playing big games. It can only be good for them. 

  "I'm sure they'll be looking in the market in the summer, trying to get the right people in. I think it's been positive.

  "The problem is you set the bar high and it's not going to get lower, it's got to go a little bit higher again. That's the hard bit, to keep maintaining the consistency, what you've done so far."

  City are unbeaten in their last 20 Premier League games (16 wins, four draws). They have won each of their last six while netting four or more goals in five of them – against Aston Villa (4-1), Crystal Palace (4-2), Luton Town (5-1), Brighton and Hove Albion (4-0) and Wolves (5-1).

  Parlour admits the champions' form is ominous and believes Arsenal will look back on last month's 2-0 defeat to Villa with plenty of regrets, saying: "All they can do is keep winning games. 

  "I look at Man City's run-in, I just can't see them dropping a point, that's my problem. Football's a funny game, so it can happen. I've seen Crystal Palace go to the Etihad and beat them, but it doesn't happen too often, especially towards the end of the season.

  "Arsenal have really pushed them all the way. They'll be kicking themselves a little bit with the Aston Villa game, but sometimes games don't go your way."

  Ray Parlour was speaking on behalf of NetBet Sports Betting.

• St. Louis City v Chicago Fire: Carnell warns against complacency amid unbeaten run

  Bradley Carnell has warned his St. Louis City side they can't get comfortable despite a four-game unbeaten run.

  Carnell's men last lost in March, since winning one and drawing three to leave St. Louis ninth in the Western Conference, just three points behind sixth-placed Austin FC.

  As his team prepares to host the Chicago Fire this weekend, Carnell has cautioned his players not to become complacent.

  "We can speak so many nice positives, especially with our three clean sheets in four and there are so many good moments," Carnell said.

  "But I also don't want to get comfortable with that. I don't want to be used to getting draws. I don't want to hype up getting ties."

  Carnell's side will look to extend their unbeaten run against a Fire team winless in four, currently 13th in the East after a poor start.

  Chicago head coach Frank Klopas hopes his team don't lose faith, telling reporters: "Our focus is to continue to stay positive with the group.

  "It's a process of evaluating and looking at how we can improve as a team, and then making sure once we analyse the games we look at certain things we did well and our mistakes to look to improve.

  "It's a long season. I feel the team has been playing well, but we have to find a way to get points."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  St. Louis City – Joao Klauss

  No St. Louis player has managed more MLS goal contributions than Klauss so far this term, scoring three and adding an assist. He will likely lead the line on Saturday and will hope to score the goals that start turning draws into wins.

  Chicago Fire – Brian Gutierrez

  Despite his team's poor collective start, 20-year-old midfielder Gutierrez has performed well and leads his team with three MLS goals so far this season, while also registering an assist. He will look to build on that and try to turn his side's fortunes around, starting this Saturday.

  MATCH PREDICTION – ST. LOUIS WIN

  St. Louis have kept clean sheets in three of their last four matches, including in the scoreless draw with the Houston Dynamo last time out. St. Louis had managed just two clean sheets in their previous 23 matches in all competitions dating back to last July.

  The Fire, meanwhile, have failed to score in four straight matches. This is the fifth time Chicago have gone four or more consecutive league matches without scoring since the start of the 2021 season.

  Six of St. Louis City's last eight matches have ended in draws, but home advantage should be enough to see off a struggling Chicago team on Saturday.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  St. Louis: 55.5%

  Chicago: 19%

  Draw: 25.5%

• LA Galaxy v Real Salt Lake: Vanney encouraged ahead of top-of-the-table tussle

  Greg Vanney believes the LA Galaxy are in a good spot both physically and mentally ahead of Saturday's clash with fellow Western Conference high-fliers Real Salt Lake.

  The Galaxy sit third in the West through 11 matches of the season, though they have failed to win back-to-back road games against Austin FC (0-2) and the Seattle Sounders (0-0).

  They are, however, unbeaten in all four of their home league games this term (two wins, two draws), and Vanney is looking forward to returning to Dignity Health Sports Park next time out.

  "Physically, first and foremost, we're in a pretty good spot. We have a few guys coming back from issues that were pretty minor," Vanney said.

  "It's good. We've been able to stay in that space for a while and now we're going into a busy part of the schedule we can make some choices about how we want to attack the week.

  "Where are we mentally? We're good. It's nice to be home, it's a challenge to play a lot of games on the road early doors.

  "We like the spot we're in and we want to keep building, but we've got to get through this tough stretch of games."

  Real Salt Lake are top of the Western standings with 21 points, only losing twice in 11 league games this year.

  However, they were dumped out of the U.S. Open Cup by New Mexico United on Wednesday, Pablo Mastroeni shuffling his pack for a 4-2 road loss.

  "We completely tuned out," Mastroeni said after watching his team go 2-0 down within 20 minutes.

  "The emotion is like, 'poor me,' and when you operate from that space, you can never think reasonably."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  LA Galaxy – Gabriel Pec

  The Galaxy (12 shots) and Seattle (19) combined for 31 shots in their scoreless draw last time out.

  Pec – who has two goals in 10 league appearances since joining the Galaxy in the offseason – recorded six of his team's attempts, but only hit the target once. He will be targeting an improvement here.

  Real Salt Lake – Cristian Arango 

  Arango is the first Real Salt Lake player to contribute to at least one goal in five straight regular-season away matches, recording four goals and five assists during his streak.

  He is just the second player since the start of last season to record a goal contribution in five straight MLS away matches, after the Columbus Crew's Cucho Hernandez.

  MATCH PREDICTION – LA GALAXY WIN

  The Galaxy have lost only one of their last 13 home matches against Real Salt Lake (nine wins, three draws) including going unbeaten through the last seven in a row. 

  The last two meetings in Carson have both ended level, though, after the Galaxy won nine of the previous 11 (one draw, one defeat).

  However, Vanney's team have only lost one of their last 14 regular-season home matches dating back to last June, winning six and drawing six while averaging 2.2 goals per game throughout this run.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  LA Galaxy – 44.8%

  Real Salt Lake – 27.8%

  Draw – 27.4%