Chelsea legend John Terry has backed Manchester City to clinch the Premier League title, predicting Arsenal will slip to third place.

City wrestled control of a thrilling title race after both Liverpool and Arsenal fell to shock home defeats to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa earlier this month, having beaten Luton Town themselves that weekend.

City opened up a two-point lead but with FA Cup semi-final commitments last weekend, both Arsenal and Liverpool have since moved ahead of them again.

Arsenal are currently four points clear at the top after wins over Wolves and the 5-0 thrashing of Chelsea on Monday night while Liverpool can join them on 77 points if they beat Everton tonight.

City will have two games in hand on their rivals by the time they take on Brighton on Thursday and still have their fate in their own hands.

Terry, who was this week inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame, believes Pep Guardiola’s side will get the job done.

In a ‘blind ranking’ challenge, Man City appeared first with Terry putting them ‘straight in at no1’ .

Arsenal emerged next among the title contenders with Terry placing them in third before backing Liverpool to secure runners up spot.

Tottenham meanwhile are in the battle for fourth spot, trailing Aston Villa by six points having played two games less than Unai Emery’s side.

But Terry declined to rank one of Chelsea’s biggest rivals, skipping them on both occasions before eventually picking Manchester United for fourth. United are currently 16 points behind fourth place Villa.

Despite crashing out of the Champions League, City are still chasing a domestic double having step up another FA Cup final against Manchester United in May.

‘We have had a lot of problems with important players with injuries, but we are still there,’ Guardiola said.

‘We are in the final of the FA Cup, we made the latter stages of the Champions League and in the Premier League we are there.

‘But you can arrive to the end like this and in one week lose all titles, but the team have behaved unbelievable this season again.’

He added: ‘Every game is important now as every mistake and setback is difficult. But we have been here many times so we know what we are playing for.’

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