Jamie Carragher says Arsenal ‘blew it’ in the Premier League title race (Picture: Sky Sports)
Jamie Carragher has questioned when Arsenal will have a better chance to win the Premier League after they ‘blew’ their title challenge this season.
Manchester City have been crowned champions for the third year in a row despite Arsenal sitting top for 248 days of the elongated 2022-23 campaign.
Arsenal were looking to win their first league title since 2004 and amassed 50 points in the first-half of the campaign, only to crumble at the business end of the season.
The collapse began last month when Mikel Arteta’s side surrendered two-goal leads to draw 2-2 with Liverpool and West Ham, before needing two late goals to rescue a point against bottom-placed Southampton.
Arsenal were then thumped 4-1 by title rivals Manchester City and have lost their last two games against Brighton and Nottingham Forest to put a premature end to the title race.
Man City sit four points ahead of the Gunners with three games remaining and could yet win a historic treble this season ahead of FA Cup and Champions League finals next month.
Given Man City’s dominance in recent years and potential title challenges from Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea next season, Carragher has questioned when Arsenal will be in a better position to win the Premier League.
Manchester City have won a third successive league title (Picture: Getty)
The former Liverpool and England defender also believes Arsenal need to considerably bolster Arteta’s squad if they are serious about competing for domestic and European titles.
‘When you look at Arsenal’s first XI it’s not a million miles away from what we’ve seen from Man City, they play a similar style,’ Carragher told Sky Sports after Arsenal’s defeat to Forest at the City Ground.
‘But [Bukayo] Saka has played every game and he played every game last season. Some of your top players can’t play all the time.
‘Kevin De Bruyne doesn’t play every single game for Manchester City and for me he’s probably been the best player in the Premier League for the last four or five years.
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‘But the biggest disappointment will be the fact that the second half of the season it’s been a massive drop off. We can’t deny that.
‘Arsenal had 50 points at the halfway stage. You know, going into any season, you have to get over 90 points to win a title right now because of Man City.
‘Arsenal could end up with 84, so even though we say they’re unlucky, they’ve done all they can, it’s not a great total when we talk about really pushing someone to the line.
‘Liverpool got in the mid-90s and still didn’t win the league. You’ve got to get 90-plus.
‘They were on course for that, but it’s been a massive drop off in the second half of the season and one of the biggest reasons is they haven’t had the squad depth. They’ve got to bring more quality players in.’
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Carragher added: ‘I do have to go back and think how often will Arsenal be in a position where they’re eight points clear with 10 games to go.
‘It was an amazing position and they did blow it, we can’t deny it. They’ve had an amazing season but if they’re in that position next season I’d be very surprised, ahead of a quality of team like Man City.
‘For me, Man City weren’t the real Man City for the first two thirds of the season it feels like since the international break they’ve got their act together and we’ve seen the real Man City we’ve seen for the last four or five years.
‘Arsenal have been brilliant and what would the Premier League have been this season without them? They’ve given us a fight, a chase and unfortunately for them it’s petered out.’
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‘We can’t deny it.’
