Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has claimed that Arsenal will be ‘the worst team to win the league’ if they go onto lift the Premier League title this season.
The Gunners are four points clear at the top of the table, with their lead cut at the weekend following their defeat by Manchester United, with their closest rivals, Manchester City and Aston Villa, both winning.
It means Mikel Arteta’s side have picked up just two points from the last nine available to them, scoring just two goals in that time – both against United.
And Scholes has taken aim. Arsenal are bidding to win the title for the first time since 2004 following two years of going close – but the Red Devils icon has not been impressed with what he has seen this term.
Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football: ‘If Arsenal win the league, this could be the worst team to win the league. If you’re thinking of picking a team of the season and picking the front four, nobody from the Arsenal team gets in that.
‘Look at previous champions – Liverpool’s forwards, brilliant. Possibly the only one is Saka, and I don’t think he’s been brilliant. He’s not scored many goals this year or assists.’
Paul Scholes has claimed Arsenal would be the ‘worst’ team to win the Premier League
The Gunners have seen their lead at the top of the table cut to four points following their defeat by Manchester United
Arsenal have received plenty of criticism for their set piece threat this season, with United winger Amad Diallo saying at the weekend that the side’s ‘only hope’ was corners.
The Gunners’ attacking problems have been laid bare in recent times. Though they have scored 42 goals in the league this season – the second-highest behind Manchester City – individually, attacking players are struggling.
Courtesy of Sky Sports, Bukayo Saka has no goals in his last 13 games in all competitions, Viktor Gyokeres hasn’t scored a goal that wasn’t a penalty in his last 11 league games, and Gabriel Martinelli hasn’t scored in his last 13 league matches either.
Elsewhere, Noni Madueke has no goals in his last 25 Premier League games, and Leandro Trossard has one goal in his last 11 appearances in all competitions.
The Gunners have become synonymous with set-piece routines, scoring 26 goals via that method so far this term – the most in Europe’s top five leagues. But that has potentially seen them struggle in other areas, with Jamie Carragher echoing Scholes’ views.
Carragher said on Sky Sports: ‘When have you ever seen a team at the top of the table, who have been top by six or seven points, but if you were picking the best team of the Premier League so far, you wouldn’t have one of their players in the front four?
‘That is not normal, that would never happen. The best team in the league would always have at least one, maybe two players [forwards], in the team of the season.
‘Arsenal don’t have that right now, and that plays into the fact that they don’t have a genuine superstar at the top end of the pitch.’
Mikel Arteta has revealed that he is confident his side will finally win the Premier League title
Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, revealed that he held a ‘beautiful’ clear-the-air meeting with his Arsenal players following Sunday’s defeat and insisted that his side will win the league.
He said on Tuesday: ‘I told them first of all how good they are and how grateful we are to share every single day with them. And just make sure that we enjoy it with a lot of conviction, that it’s going to happen (win the Premier League) because it’s our moment and we really want it.
‘This is going to be the mindset and where we’re going to put the energy.’
