Arsenal is now six points behind Liverpool, who are currently in first place in the Premier League. Liverpool has played one fewer match than Mikel Arteta’s team, and Jamie Carragher feels that this is too much for Arsenal to make up.
Emmanuel Petit, a former great player for Arsenal, is quite familiar with the experience of winning the Premier League with the Gunners. He feels that Jamie Carragher has spoken too soon when he dismissed their chances of winning the league.
The draw that Arsenal played with Aston Villa on Saturday left them six points behind the leaders of the league, Liverpool, who have a game in hand due to the delay of their match against Everton in December. Arsenal’s game now stands at six points behind Liverpool. The fact that they won the league in the 1997–1998 season with Petit on their roster, however, was an even greater indication of how far they had fallen.
At the end of that season, the Gunners had played 22 games and were now ranked fifth in the standings. They were 11 points behind Manchester United, who were the leaders of the league. When the two teams met in the middle of March, the deficit between them was nine points; nevertheless, Arsene Wenger’s squad had three games in hand, and the Londoners ended up winning the championship with two games to spare.
Carragher believes that Arsenal’s lineup possesses more firepower than the present crop, which does not include Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, both of whom have suffered injuries on the pitch. Because of this, he has almost completely disregarded Mikel Arteta’s team, but Petit does not come to the same conclusion about the situation.
While appearing on the Sky Sports broadcast, Petit made the following statement about his fellow Monday Night Football guest, Carragher: “I know that he will disagree with me.” In spite of this, I am aware that we were able to accomplish this feat in the year 1998, and we have witnessed it once more this season with Manchester City. During the struggle for the best place, they were defeated and dropped. The same goes for Chelsea. They were also in second place for several weeks.
Things move at such a breakneck pace in the Premier League. Jamie told me that Arsenal is not capable of winning the Premier League despite having a large number of forwards in their roster. No, I do not agree with it. In terms of goal scoring, they are not too far behind Liverpool. Arsenal has scored 43 goals, whereas Liverpool has scored 50.
When it comes to defence, they are practically identical, with a score of 20-21. The disparity is not nearly as significant as one might think. One of the most crucial things in the Premier League is maintaining a consistent record of outcomes.
There has only been one loss for Liverpool during the whole season, but in recent weeks, cracks have started to appear. Arne Slot’s team required a late brace from Darwin Nunez in order to overcome Brentford after they had drawn back-to-back matches against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. Petit believes that they will continue to struggle as the number of matches continues to increase.
The former France international proceeded by saying, “Liverpool and other teams are dealing with a significant number of competitions.” “Arsenal, they have a large number of players who are injured, and they are likely to return to action very soon, so they will be in good shape. The Premier League and the Champions League will be the only leagues that consume their attention.
During the month of February, they will also qualify for the following competition, which is the Champions League, just as Liverpool did. In addition to that, they will make a turnover. It is for a great number of reasons. Liverpool has not been performing very well over the past several weeks. Constantly, they are allowing ambitions to be surrendered. They exhibit a lack of self-assurance.
The most important test is scheduled to take place on May 10, when Liverpool will play Arsenal in a league match. In October, the clubs played each other to a 2-2 draw in the league, but Petit’s former squad may have the feeling that they are in the running for the title if they are able to maintain their momentum until they arrive at Anfield.