Over the past month, everything has pointed to Arsenal, now also with Martin Ødegaard back, being on course for the Premier League title. This season is not like the previous three seasons, now the Gunners are set up to go all the way to the trophy table. Then came the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, where Emery’s men decided the game with a goal in injury time. For United legend Paul Scholes, this was just a confirmation that Arsenal do not have what it takes to end up as the best club in the world’s toughest league this time around.
Paul Scholes believes Arsenal’s title race will falter once again unless Mikel Arteta finds a way to improve his team’s record in the Premier League’s biggest games. The Premier League legend came with sharp criticism after Arsenal were beaten in a painful way by Aston Villa on Saturday, making their position at the top of the table look increasingly vulnerable.
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-Man City have a great chance now, right? I still don’t think they’re quite there, but they always get better in the second half of the season, and the thing about Arsenal is they can’t win a big game,” the United legend begins on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
Scholes cited defeats against Liverpool and Villa, as well as draws against Manchester City and Chelsea, as evidence of Arsenal’s limitations.
“Until they start winning big games, they have no chance of winning the league,” he said. They lost to Liverpool, they couldn’t beat Man City at home when they were struggling. Aston Villa are a good team, but Arsenal simply can’t win big games. They were unable to beat Chelsea after they were down to ten men. If you’re going to win the league, you have to start winning some big games, you have to beat your rivals, and they can’t do it. Historically, Man City always get better after January. They were in the Club World Cup, so they didn’t really have a pre-season,” says Scholes.
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