Arsenal left hoping Liverpool stumble at some point, as 9-point gap opens up | Football News
Match Of The Day 2 pundit Theo Walcott, refused to write off Arsenal’s hopes in the premiership season, reeling off reasons why the former forward thought they were still in with a chance despite Sunday’s dressing 1-1 draw against Chelsea. Chief amongst those was hoping the Reds’ falter.
“Liverpool at some point are going to stumble and they will have injury problems like every other team,” Walcott said, adding, “I would not write off anyone who is up there now, absolutely not.”
It might seem delusional to some, given how hory rolls. For the Gunners who found themselves offside 7 times despite Martin Odegaard sparkling on his steady return, are nine points adrift from the leaders at the end of a weekend for the first time since the final day of 2021-22. Back then they languished 24 points behind Manchester City.
Pedro Neto’s equalizer in the 70th minute canceled out Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goal for Arsenal.
Leaders Liverpool, meanwhile, had set the tone for a dream weekend after victory over Aston Villa even as Manchester City lost to Brighton. That puts the deficit with City at five points – and with the rest nine points or more, as they have 28 points of a maximum 33.
Speaking on MOTD2, former Premier League striker Troy Deeney reckoned it was time to panic: “Lose one more time and I think Arsenal are out of it. They are going to have to beat Liverpool home and away and beat City as well,” he groaned.
Walcott bemoaned the lack of goals, but dredged up an explanation. “The difference with Arsenal at this moment in time is that they are lacking in goals, while they are not conceding many – but at this point of the season it’s important to factor in who they have played. I would say that, so far, they have played tougher teams – they have played six of last season’s top 10, and five of those games have been away from home. Plus, most of the time they have been without their main player, Martin Odegaard, and they are still where they are,” he tried rallying their spirits.
Walcott added that Odegaard’s absence and re-emergence could change their tenor: “People tend to forget all of that when they look into how Arsenal are not playing at the same level they were at last year, but for me it is one of the reasons not to write them off in the title race.”
On Sky Sports, former Gunner Paul Merson, broke down the math, adding the time to catch Liverpool was now. “He (Arteta) has got to make sure it gets down to six points rather than go to 12. I think they’ll do well to catch Liverpool now. It might stay at nine until the end of December. If it goes to 12 then it’s finished.” Nobody has ever won the Premier League title after being nine (or more) points off the top with 11 games gone.
Arteta preached relentlessness saying his team need to “win, win, win, win and win, because these guys don’t stop winning”.
Arsenal could reach 100 points if they won every remaining game. In Theo’s theory at least, if not in practice.
