Mikel Arteta has led Arsenal to back-to-back second place finishes in the Premier League, but failure to improve on that outcome this season could prove problematic
Former Arsenal captain William Gallas believes Arsenal would face “a huge amount of drama” if Arne Slot’s Liverpool beat them to the Premier League title this season.
Arsenal and Liverpool are both out to take advantage of reigning champions Manchester City losing star man Rodri to a season-ending injury. It’s Slot’s team on top at the moment, though, and they have a chance to move seven points clear of their rivals with a win in North London on Sunday.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is coming off the back of successive second-place finishes in the Premier League. The London club finished five points adrift of City in 2022-23, and reduced the gap to just two points last term.
Arteta’s Liverpool counterpart Slot is benefiting from a friendly fixture list to bring his team top of the league, and there’s still a lot of the season to go. Even so, Gallas worries a rookie manager beating Arteta to the title could be a problem.
“For me, that’s why if Arsenal doesn’t win the league this season, it’s a big drama,” Gallas told Prime Casino. “It’s a big drama, because you have to think about Arteta being in charge of that club for how long? Five years. Five years and they haven’t won the Premier League yet.
“If Liverpool win the Premier League in Slot’s first season, what does that say about Arteta and Arsenal? It would create a huge amount of drama.
“City are consistent. Liverpool are consistent, even with the new manager Arne Slot coming in. Someone will need to explain to me how Liverpool are doing so well under a new boss. He’s made following in the footsteps of Klopp look easy, and we’ve seen clubs attempt to replace legendary managers and find things far from easy.
“He should have the most difficult managers job in the league. It usually takes time for managers to have this type of impact, and usually managers ask for time. Slot has come in, bang! Top of the league.”
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Both Arsenal and Liverpool will be without key players for their weekend meeting. Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is not expected back for the game, while Arteta wasn’t optimistic about Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori either.
“Saka not training yet so he won’t be available and Ricci [Calafiori] felt something and could not stay on,” Arteta told Amazon after Arsenal beat Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night. “Bit of a worry.”
Liverpool are already without injured goalkeeper Alisson, while Slot offered an update on Diogo Jota after the forward was forced off early against Chelsea. “It’s difficult to judge at this moment of time to see how long that’s going to take,” he said. “It’s bruised, so we have to see how long it is going to take.”
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