The perfect striker

Stapleton: impressed by Adebayor

I'd still go with United because it's gone backwards and forwards. The current position is largely down to United faltering rather than Arsenal coming through and running away with it.

Frank Stapleton
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Frank Stapleton reckons Emmanuel Adebayor is the "perfect striker" after watching Arsenal take another step closer to winning the title.

Adebayor was on target for the seventh league game in a row as Arsenal beat Blackburn 2-0 on Monday night to stretch their lead over Manchester United to five points.

And Stapleton, who played up front for the Gunners between 1974 and 1981, was full of praise for the way the Togo international has improved since he arrived from Monaco two years ago.

He told Sky Sports News: "Two years ago when he first came to Arsenal, he looked fairly raw and didn't seem sure about what he needed to do.

"But Arsene Wenger could see the potential in him and at the moment he looks like the perfect striker.

"He's strong, he can hold the ball up, he can join the play up, he's good in the air, he's quick and most importantly he scores goals."

Arsenal are now in pole position in the title race, but Stapleton insists they must keep playing as well as they did against Blackburn if they are to hold off the challenge of United and Chelsea.

Performance

He continued: "They are going to have to keep up that level of performance because you can't say it's over and done with at this moment in time.

"There's a lot of games to go and you've got to remember they've got to play each other in the league, so there's a lot of things that could happen.

"But Arsenal are in a great position being five points clear and playing with confidence. They've picked it up again and they are really on a roll."

Stapleton also played for Manchester United during his career and fears Sir Alex Ferguson's men may have slipped up too many times this season after their 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

He added: "It's a little bit worrying because they've taken one point form their last two matches and that's not acceptable to the majority of supporters.

"They've had four real blips this year. They've lost to City twice, they've lost away to West Ham and away to Bolton.

"Apart from the away game at City when they dominated and didn't score a goal, they haven't played well on those occasions.

"They've lost four games this season. How many games can you afford to lose if you're going to go on and win the championship?

"When Chelsea won the league for the first time, they only lost one game all season and they really upped the ante. Manchester United almost need to win every single game now."

Impact

Stapleton tipped United for the title at the start of the season and says they still have a good chance of winning the league, although he says Chelsea could still have a big impact on the title race.

He said: "I'd still go with United because it's gone backwards and forwards. The current position is largely down to United faltering rather than Arsenal coming through and running away with it.

"There's not much between them and I wouldn't count out Chelsea because they've still got to play Arsenal and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

"There's a long, long way to do and what will be significant will be what they do against the weaker teams.

"If anybody drops points against them, that will put them out of it."