Jamie Carragher has expressed the opinion that Arsenal will not win the Premier League if they become over-reliant on winning matches by small margins.
The Liverpool legend stated this while reviewing the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Brentford on Monday night.
Mikel Arteta’s men currently sit top of the table, one point better off than second-placed Manchester City. Arsenal have so far secured five of their nine victories by single-goal margins this season.
Carragher believes that they need to win games more convincingly if they want to stand a chance against the likes of Manchester City.
He said: “We’re still only a third of the way through the season, but I think if Arsenal continue how they are, if this is the Arsenal we’re going to see this season, I don’t think they can win the league.
“I think so many games are going to the wire and sometimes that can go against you – you think of the [Aaron] Ramsdale mistake and the big chance Brentford had in the second half at the weekend. Those games that finish 1-0 can easily go 1-0 the other way.”
Meanwhile in another news…
Former Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi has revealed that he left the English Premier League club because of the former manager, Antonio Conte.
He said shortly after Conte took over as club manager, he and his compatriot Victor Moses were invited to represent the Nigerian national team at the Olympics, and the Italian tactician told them that if they leave they should consider themselves no longer part of his team.
Mikel said, “Conte was the reason why I left [Chelsea]. Once he came in, he was like, ‘You’re not playing anymore.’ Then I left. Obviously, when I saw Conte coming into the club, I was like, ‘My time here is done.’
“The only reason is when he came in, me and Victor Moses and we got invited to the [Nigerian] national team for the Olympics. So, I had a conversation with the club and he [Conte] said, ‘If you go, you’re not playing anymore for the club. Because I’m a new manager, we need to think about the club.’
“And I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve been invited to represent the country at the Olympics.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but if you go just know that your time here is done.’
“So, I talked to Victor to stay back. I said, ‘I’ve been here a long time. I’ve won everything that I needed to win. You’re just coming, so you should stay.’ And he accepted. So, Victor stayed and I went. After the tournament when I came back, that was it. He [Conte] never spoke to me. He sent me to the reserve team. I was training with the reserves. Then I started training alone for a while. For like six months I did this.”
