Gary Neville has lamented Arsenal‘s collapse in the Premier League title race with Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta‘s side fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham United on Saturday afternoon. Arne Slot’s Reds capitalised on the result, winning 2-0 at reigning champions Manchester City to move 11 points clear at the top of the table.
Liverpool are now closing in on a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title whilst Arsenal’s wait for a first league title win since 2004 looks set to go on. Arteta’s team finished runners-up in each of the previous two campaigns and now look likely to make it a hat-trick this term.
And former Manchester United full-back Neville has explained why this season will be particularly disappointing for Arteta’s men, despite the significant number of injuries his team has suffered, particularly in attack.
“You’ve got to plan for it [the injuries],” he said on his Sky Sports podcast. “I know they didn’t want to do business in the January transfer window; they thought just maybe there wasn’t quite the sort of value in the market, or they couldn’t get the player that would come in and impact them, but they have left themselves short. There’s no doubt about that, and they’ve fallen short.
“Even without the players that you’ve mentioned, they still have to do that job yesterday. I think the last two seasons they’ve gone very close and I’ve a lot of admiration for them. I felt like you’re getting close.
“This season is more of a problem for them than the last two because when City weren’t going to be there, this team had to be there. I had Arsenal in my mind, because of the growth and how close they were getting and it’s not going to be them, it doesn’t look like and that’s the big shock and surprise.
“I think that will be the one that will hit hardest in the Arsenal boardroom and with Mikel Arteta and the dressing room and the players because they’re desperate to win a title there, they felt like they would be inching nearer so it’s a blow. Look, it can happen and they might say Liverpool are doing well, but Liverpool have dropped points in this last eight games. Liverpool have drawn two of the last three. They’ve drawn four in the last eight.
“Arsenal have had a chance to get back closer, they could have gone within five points yesterday. So it’s a big blow, and questions will start to be asked because a little bit like when say, that Leicester season and a couple of other teams didn’t win it, you know what I mean, you start to ask questions of those teams, saying, ‘well, hang on a minute Leicester went and won it’. It’s that type of season where you think it was up for grabs and Slots come in, new manager, Klopp’s left.”
Neville has also criticised Arsenal’s style of play under Arteta this season and their over-reliance on set pieces under the Spaniard. He added: “I think for Arsenal, they’ve become quite rigid.
“They’ve become quite turgid at times to watch. I felt like it was like an obsession with set pieces, which almost overtook the whole game. Exacerbated by the fact that this presence of the set piece coach on the touchline, and it’s like, puts more focus on set pieces.
“I feel like the freedom’s gone a little bit from them, and I know that they’ve lost Saka, and I know that they’ve lost Jesus and I know they’ve lost Havertz, which are big blows. I mean, let’s be clear, that is a big problem for Arsenal, but I still think you’ve got to do that job yesterday against West Ham at home.”
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