Arsenal is four years behind Manchester City reckons Express Sports’ reporter, Matthew Dunn.
City beat the Gunners 1-0 when both sides met yesterday in the Premier League as Pep Guardiola stood in the opposing dugout against his former assistant, Mikel Arteta.
That game was the second consecutive loss Arsenal has suffered at the hands of City at home this season.
The Gunners beat the same team en route to winning the FA Cup last season and they will have hoped to earn something from the match.
But City is arguably the most in-form team in the world right now and they showed why in the game.
Dunn says Arsenal is expecting too much from their team if they expected a win against Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut and insists they are behind by four years.
He writes in his column: “It was touching to hear the respect being poured out towards Arsenal by Pep Guardiola on Sunday, a team his side could have thrashed out of sight.
“It is now more than a year since Mikel Arteta made his bow from under the shadows of his mentor at City to take over at Arsenal and it was amusing to see the pair on the edge of their respective technical areas.
“Guardiola barking the occasional authoritative instruction to his players; Arteta yapping away excitedly at his own players, telling them what to do with every ball.
“As I mentioned in my newspaper article, it was like watching Scooby against Scrappy Doo.
“But while it is heart-warming to see Arteta build so clearly in the manner preached by the older dog, on Sunday it was clear the young pup is already four years behind in the development process.
“And yet the Arsenal board expect the club to compete for top-four places with a team that also invests so much more money it might just as well be in doggy-dollars.”
The Gunners will now turn their attention towards the Europa League, where they will face Benfica next in the return leg of their round of 32 game.