
Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre has stated that his side are lucky to still be in the title race but insists they can win it.
The Gunners face Liverpool at the Emirates on Sunday and know that a win will take them within five points of the current league leaders.
After dropping points to the likes of Fulham, Stoke and Manchester City, Arsene Wenger's side have beaten Chelsea and Manchester United to keep them in the title hunt.
Arsenal have already suffered five league defeats and Silvestre acknowledges that in any normal season the Gunners' hopes of league glory would be long gone.
But this campaign has seen the top four drop points on a more regular basis with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all held to draws last week.
The former Inter Milan and United defender thinks the reason for this is that the league is getting stronger.
"We are lucky we are still in the race because our eight point difference could have been even bigger," Silvestre conceded to The Sun.
"But we see each week there are bad results among the top teams and none of them have pulled away.
"Of course we are still in it. We have been behind at United, and one season Arsenal won when they were 13 points behind so you never know what can happen.
"United made a bad start last season and won the title. When we drew at Middlesbrough on Saturday lunchtime we were the first team to drop two points and were very upset, but then the others did it too.
"The level of every team in the league is very high and every team can beat the big four."
The Frenchman has some fond memories of playing Liverpool during his days at United.
The 31-year-old made his debut for the Red Devils against their bitter rivals just days after signing at Old Trafford from Inter Milan.
The defender even managed to score twice against them in a 2-1 win at the Theatre of Dreams in September 2004.
"When I was at United, there was a very big rivalry with Liverpool but Arsenal v Liverpool is very strong as well," Silvestre added.
"My first game for United nine years ago was against Liverpool. I arrived on Thursday at Manchester airport, trained with the team on Friday and on Saturday lunchtime we were playing at Anfield.
"I thought that if all the games were like this, it was going to be a tough season, even though we won 3-2.
"I scored two goals at Old Trafford to beat them which is a special memory for me."

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