Thierry Henry suggested that the neutral fan does not want Arsenal to win the league despite Mikel Arteta’s side appearing to go into the season as the underdogs after 22 years without winning a Premier League title.
After beating Everton 2-0 at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon, the Gunners went 10 points clear at the top of the table.
Their title-winning credentials were further burnished by their closest rivals Manchester City drawing on the same evening with West Ham, who are in the thick of a fight to survive relegation.
With just seven matches left to play, Arsenal look increasingly likely to break their drought at the end of the season – and have an even closer opportunity to win their first silverware of the campaign when they contest the Carabao Cup against Man City on Sunday.
But Henry did not mince words during his appearance on Monday Night Football, pointing out that in both the title race and the Carabao Cup final, Arsenal do not enjoy popular support.
‘A lot of people are like, anything but Arsenal winning the league,’ Henry said. ‘I wanted them (Liverpool) to win the league because i wanted Jamie (Carragher) to win the league, Stevie G (Steven Gerrard) to win the league.
Thierry Henry suggested that fans were against the idea of Arsenal finally claiming the Premier League trophy after years of near-misses
Arsenal are now nine points clear at the top of the table after Man City drew with West Ham
‘Whether I like Liverpool or not, you root for the underdog, the team that couldn’t do it, or failed to win the league. (But) a lot of people don’t want Arsenal to win the league.’
Carragher, alongside Henry for the evening, agreed, calling it ‘strange’.
‘I think it’s very strange, and maybe it’s the same with the Carabao Cup final,’ Carragher noted. ‘When you have a team like Man City, who have dominated the past era, most neutrals want the underdog – the team who want the battle.
‘But it doesn’t feel that way with Arsenal. Maybe there’s a lot of Man United, or Liverpool fans, even though City is the local rival, and Liverpool have been competing with City for the title (in recent years), they’re looking and thinking, “maybe I want City to win it”.
‘There is something about Arsenal, and the way they’ve gone about it, whether it’s the style of football, whether it’s Arteta on the side of the pitch, there is something about them – maybe it’s the fanbase, they get a bit of criticism – that maybe rubs people up the wrong way.’
As the business end of the season sharpens up, Arteta and Co have come under criticism for their style of play, perceived by their detractors as winning at all costs.
Jamie Carragher wondered if whether Mikel Arteta’s touchline presence had impacted public opinion over the club
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was particularly full-throated as he hinted at Arsenal deploying dark arts tactics to secure their 1-0 win at the start of the month.
‘There was only one team who tried to play football today,’ said Hurzeler after the final whistle. ‘There was so many actions (of time-wasting).
‘In the end, it’s about the rules. If the Premier League, the referee, allows everything, then it is difficult. They (Arsenal) make their own rules. At the moment I have a feeling that they do their own rules, no matter how they are playing.’
But Everton’s manager David Moyes – who worked with Arteta as one of his players during his first stint at Goodison Park – insisted that it was wrong to criticise a team for winning at any cost.
‘Arsenal have been excellent,’ Moyes said last week. ‘From the first game of the season. Probably maybe outside PSG, the biggest favourites for the Champions League.
‘It’s amazing people have been critical, who are the people who have been critical of them?
‘They’re in a great position, have been all season, winning the games. Unless the referees do more on set-pieces – which they really should be doing, to be honest – you’d have to say they are taking all the advantages they can get. They have an incredible squad.’
