Paul Scholes has claimed Arsenal will be ‘kicking themselves’ after Liverpool suffered a 3-2 defeat away to Fulham on Sunday.
The Merseysiders failed to capitalise on the Gunners’ controversial 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday, with a first-half horror show proving decisive.
A 12-point lead was only cut down to 11 points, with the result ultimately proving harmless in the grand scheme of things.
Arsenal will play the first of their seven remaining Premier League games against Brentford this Saturday, four days after a Champions League encounter with Real Madrid.
Paul Scholes says Arsenal wasted an opportunity
With the benefit of hindsight, Mikel Arteta’s men could very well have opened the door at least slightly ajar with a win at Goodison Park.
An eight-point lead with seven games to go certainly sounds far less unassailable than 11.
Paul Scholes certainly alluded to this with his post-match commentary after Arne Slot’s Reds suffered only their second league defeat of the 2024/25 season.
“It [the title race] could be prolonged. You’d expect them to beat West Ham and Leicester City. You just need someone a bit closer to them. Arsenal have to be kicking themselves because this was a real opportunity, obviously with Man City not having the quality you’d expect in the title race,” the former Manchester United midfielder spoke on Premier League Productions.
“If Arsenal were a bit closer it could have got a bit shaky for Liverpool. It still could if Arsenal win all their games – you can’t think Arsenal are going to win all their games especially with the two Real Madrid games coming up.
“But Liverpool are going to limp over the line looking at today’s performance. I sense a bit of arrogance about them as if ‘you shouldn’t be able to land a finger on us today. You shouldn’t be able to beat us,’ and I think they’ve shown that in the last few weeks.”
Liverpool’s title stumble has come too late
Liverpool’s apparent refusal to rotate their favoured starting XI has evidently come back to bite them in April.
The Reds look more than a little leggy after a relentless first campaign for Arne Slot. It’s just a shame that this mini-implosion couldn’t have happened a month or two prior when Mikel Arteta could still have potentially salvaged Arsenal’s position in the league table.
A lot can change in a few games, of course, but it seems disingenuous to suggest that Liverpool could drop points against the likes of West Ham and Leicester City.
Ultimately, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the table-toppers only need four wins from their next seven games to seal the title.
Alexis Mac Allister may still feel his side needs to maintain focus after a humbling defeat at Craven Cottage, but they’re clearly on the home straight.
Liverpool’s unexpected flop at Fulham left fans and players alike in disbelief, proving that even the giants can stumble. This raises an intriguing point: they are definitely vulnerable. West Ham is capable of causing Liverpool some trouble, just like Leicester City can. However, with Arsenal lacking the drive to secure victories, all of this chatter about potential upsets suddenly feels a bit moot. Let’s see how the rest of the season unfolds!
How are we being targeted if we equally are getting decisions that go in our favour ?
How are we being targeted if literally last week a big VAR decision went against Liverpool?
?
With a high number of key players injured, continuously being targeted by unfair and biased referee decisions, to top it of, negative comments from the former Man Porto United…. I will say: one point in the bag is better than comments of haters
Well what is biased? Did the referees prevent any AFC player from scoring goals? “If” we are to be champions, we should be pounding mid level teams with goals, why could we not score 2 /more goals? Then the penalty would be irrelevant. Typical of the AFC (Aterta Fan Club) brain washing. The refs are human too, if Odegard can shoot miles above the crossbar, then a ref can make a judgement error too. The title was conceded in the August when Mikel trusted Gab J to play 35+ EPL games and bang in some 25+ goals and hiring Sterling to provide him the assists.
Anybody still thinking Arsenal are in the race for the PL title is simply being delusional. We were out of it a long time ago
Arteta was spot on resting players against Everton. If we secure a good result against Madrid in the first leg tomorrow, I’d urge him to rest players against Brentford as well.
The PL is gone; we’ve got CL football all but secured for next season. Let’s give the CL all we’ve got and see where that takes us