Henry – Why Arsenal have the edge over Man City

Theirry Henry has been getting carried away with the optimism over Arsenal and our chances of winning the Premier League this season. Despite the Gunners bouncing back well this month from a nightmare November, the former Arsenal forward feels that we have got away with some indifferent games and are quite fortunate to still be well in touch at the top.

The main reason for that, Henry writes in The Sun, is the failure of Man City to carry on the way they started the season. The French football pundit feels that they have not been able to cope with the loss of key players to injury in the same way that Arsenal have.

He thinks that their captain and Central defender Vincent Kompany is a huge loss to City and their expensive squad players like Otamendi and Mangala are not doing enough. He says the same of the former Arsenal right back Sagna who has been playing instead of the injured Zabaleta, whole Bony has yet to really show anything like the form that made City sign him from Swansea in the absence of Aguero.

The ex-Gunner declared, “If Manchester City had continued playing the way they started the season, they would virtually be champions by now.

“We all thought they were going to be unstoppable. But now they just look average.

“Arsenal have probably coped better with all their injuries because there is not such a difference in the quality of their squad. Yet they are still only one point ahead of City.

“Tomorrow’s game at the Emirates should have been first versus second and a match which would have a huge outcome on the destiny of the Premier League. But it will decide nothing because neither team has been consistent enough.

“Their back four looks very shaky without Kompany.

“They spent a lot of money to buy Otamendi, Mangala and Demichelis but there is no shape or understanding in the centre of the defence without the captain.

“Pablo Zabaleta has also been a huge loss this season.

“The Argentine has been one of the best right-backs in the world and City have missed his creativity down that flank

“Raheem Sterling was the hottest property in the League last year but has not yet discovered his consistency in a City shirt.

“I also thought that Wilfried Bony would simply carry on where he left off at Swansea, but it hasn’t worked out for him so far. City don’t carry the same threat when he is leading their attack instead of Aguero.”

Unfortunately for Arsenal it looks like Aguero might be fit to face us, but we are also hoping to have the brilliant Alexis Sanchez back. So it could be the team that defends the best that wins it and while City are without their talisman Kompany, Henry thinks that Arsenal have a big edge because of his fellow countryman at the heart of our defence.

He continued, “It’s lucky for Arsenal that Laurent Koscielny has been more or less available every week because he is probably their only outfield player who is irreplaceable.

“I regard him as the best defender in the league at the moment.”

So will Kos the boss give Arsenal the edge in the game against Man City and help us to take charge of the EPL title race?

Tags Kompany Koscielny

12 Comments

  1. lets keep it safe at the back. dont want to get hit on a counter. and lets go out and score first . ideally i’d like us to blitz city the way we did versus manu.

    1. Hahaha Hahaha hahaha ??
      make your mind up Son!!
      Which is it?….

      1) Play safe?
      2) Blitz them like we did utd?
      3) Score the first goal but don’t get hit on the counter attack!

      It sounds as if you got more and more brave as you wrote your comment! ???

      1. We actually did all these against United. We were safe at the back, we rolled them over and didn’t get hit on the counter. So his logic is 100% possible.

      2. Don’t you think it can be done at the same game, the same time fatty? Just waiting for the right moment. We weren’t play totally open when we trashed ManUre, we caught them at the right time. So, the kid statement wasn’t wrong for me. What? Need a detail?

  2. Anything other than a WIN tomorrow is a disgrace and proves we will not win the EPL. I stand by that claim vehemently….if we don’t beat Man City tomorrow we will not win the EPL. Bad day, bad ref, bad weather, bad cohesion etc. No excuse will be enough not to take 3 points tomorrow if we are serious about the title.

    1. You can say the same thing, when we play Barcelona in the champions league, buddie! ???

      Theres no excuses for not beating the title favourites!
      Hey? ????

      1. NOPE!!…no hope against Barcelona. We are already eliminated in the champions league as far as I am concerned. So I would not say the same.
        Man City is not Barcelona. Man City this season is very beatable. We should beat them period. We should have beat Chelsea but we didn’t because we were pathetic in that game. I know people will say ref this ref that….nonsense! Why is it only against us that Chelsea could push aside easily or play dirty?….look at the list of teams that have beaten Chelsea this season and we couldn’t.
        Man City are not flying high, we should beat them if we are serious about the title. If we can’t beat them now we will not win the title.

  3. So basically, Henry is saying that our Injuries didn’t effect us as bad as it did City, because our squad of player’s are of the same quality ?? Hahaha Really? ?

    Otamendi cost more than our complete back four,
    Yet , Henry is politely saying that he is ? ?
    Its the players first season in the premier league and he has only been playing since Kompany’s absence.

    Don’t forget that Bony has been dealing with injuries as well this season,sometimes it takes afew regular games to get back into the swing of things, its not as if he hasn’t been scoring.
    As for Aguero, he hasn’t been the same since he returned from injury either, he played a few games and only scored one goal in the 4-1 defeat to liverpooh and then he got injured again, I don’t think that he will cause us any problems on Monday, I doubt that he will even play the full 90 minutes.
    It’s De Bruyne and Sterling who we need to keep quiet.

    Henry will always be a Legend at Arsenal, even though he deserted us for Barcelona and of course missing that sitter from 1 yard out in the champions league final, which would have won us that trophy ( IMO)
    Nevertheless he is a useless Pundit, always stating the obvious, which tells me that he has a lot to learn before he becomes a club manager.

  4. If there ever was a time to thrash City it’s now. Not saying we will or getting ahead of myself but if we can beat them at the Etihad at full strength there shouldn’t be any reason for us not to do it at the Emirates. How I would love for Cech to break the record with a clean sheet in this game along with 3 points in the bag.

  5. Cech will keepthem out and Giroud will score a tap in. The rest of the game will be played in midfield. 1-0 to Arsenal

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