Rio Ferdinand believes Arsenal would be closer to Liverpool in the table of manager Mikel Arteta had donw one thing.
The Gunners must maintain their winning streak in the final months of the season if they are to stop Arne Slot’s side from lifting the Premier League trophy. Liverpool are currently seven points clear of Arsenal with 13 games left.
Arsenal have dealt with major injury blows this season including to captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus to name a few. Ferdinand claims that Arteta should have utilised teenage Ethan Nwaneri more earlier in the campaign when Odegaard got injured.
“Arsenal could be nearer to winning the league and closer to Liverpool if your manager played Nwaneri when Odegaard was injured,” the Manchester United icon Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel. “What he is doing… he is cooking defenders, he is cooking teams. I think if he came in you would have got more points.
“It’s easy to say in hindsight but I was saying it at the time. Chuck him in and just see, what’s the worst that can happen? Because you were running up dead alleys at the time and not getting results. Put him in! Odegaard was gone.”
Nwaneri, who signed his first professional contract with the club last year, has featured 24 times across all competitions and has seven goal contributions.
Liverpool on the other hand, extended their winning streak by defeating Wolves 2-1 at the weekend. Despite the seven-point gap, Slot claims it’s still a two-horse race for the title.
“In a season where you want to achieve something, you need to have wins like this as well,” he said. “Wins like this should also be included where you want to achieve something. You can never breathe in this competition.
“I see Arsenal’s 15-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and the gap has always been the same, so that shows what we have to do. If you look at the last few seasons it has mostly been a battle between two teams. As things stand, it looks like between us and Arsenal. Their form tells you how well they are doing, but also how well we are doing.”
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