Roy Keane is of the impression that Arsenal would have won the Premier League title with Mo Salah in their starting-XI.
With the Gunners a million miles away from league leaders Liverpool for goals scored in 2024/25, it’s hard to disagree with that view.
Of the 74 top-flight goals the Merseysiders have registered this term, the Egyptian King has registered 27 of them (36.48% of total league goals).
Arsenal’s top scorer, Kai Havertz (15 goals in all competitions), has only nine Premier League goals by comparison.
Mo Salah could have helped Arsenal win the title
To cut Mikel Arteta’s men some slack in this debate, it’s worth pointing out that our most reliable goalscorer and creator in Bukayo Saka has missed 23 games this term with injury.
13 of these fixtures came in the Premier League, no doubt contributing to the significant deficit between himself and Salah.
Regardless, Keane remains convinced the ‘fitness freak’ would have made a similarly sizeable contribution to Arsenal’s season.
“We see him doing it week in, week out, scoring the goals, the assists,” the Irishman told Sky Sports ahead of Newcastle vs Manchester United.
“If you put him in the Arsenal team, Arsenal would win the league this year. That’s how special he is.
“So, I’m kind of glad they [Liverpool] got the deal done. You want the top players playing in the Premier League. It was only a matter of time before they got it agreed. I think he deserves it. He’s a special player.”
Liverpool don’t have goalscoring problems
Defence may very well win titles, so the old adage goes, but a quality offence has clearly played a major role in Liverpool’s push for Premier League glory.
It’s rather telling that, should Saka be out for an enforced period of time with injury, Arsenal totally lack the necessary firepower elsewhere in the squad.
Gabriel Martinelli (6), Leandro Trossard (5), Ethan Nwaneri (3), Gabriel Jesus (3), and Raheem Sterling (0) have all failed to hit double figures for goals in 2024/25.
We can talk all day about injuries, but ultimately the Emirates Stadium-dwelling outfit doesn’t have a standout attacker able to match Salah’s sheer durability and prowess in front of goal.
Arsenal may have the least leaky defence in the Premier League (27 goals conceded). But ultimately, it’s difficult to see how the club can close the gap to Liverpool without investing in the forward line this summer.
Arteta’s obsession with defence has thwarted the strategy for the offensive aspect of the game. I mean, Sterling?
The Manchester united legend is talking a lot of things that makes football sense recently.
Roy Keane is right and it’s for that reason a striker got to be heading the summer wish list
Arteta is underachieving at arsenal, only one fa cup in 5 + years if the don’t win the champions League maybe he should go.arsenal seem to be standing still
Arteta has not wanted a standout scorer in the squad; in fact he has gone to great lengths to avoid that standout scorer and spread the scoring around.
Why was Jesus brought in as the “striker?”
Why has Havertz been the first choice “striker?”
Arteta has thought “contributors” or “versatility” was enough, but some positions need “specialists,” and striker is definitely one of them.
Doesn’t matter if you play a winger in a striker position (like Jesus), they simply have to be scorers, which we have not had for several years now.
Strikers need to score; not drop deep, not swap with wingers, they are measured by goals scored, not running around building up play or chasing shadows.
Personally, I think over reliance on one player to score goals is not a good thing. It means if the form of this player goes downhill, so does the form of the team. This is exactly what happened to Liverpool last season. They were comfortably top going into the second half of the season. But then Salah departed for the African Cup of Nations and he wasn’t good on his return. Liverpool faded away, gradually overtaken by Arsenal and City.
Even if we get a centre forward, I’m hoping it will be a centre forward who doesn’t just score goals but improves those around him,like Harry Kane. We need to have a season like 2022/23 where we had an impressive four players on double figures. Most of the great teams of the past have always had multiple players scoring lots of goals rather than relying on just the one player.
P.S. I think we’d have competed favorably with Liverpool if we had Saka and Havertz fit throughout the season.
Arsenal’s failure to win the title this season is due to injuries and biases refereeing more than a proven striker. With Jesus and Kai in the team, Arsenal would have turned many of the draws into wins. Furthermore, Arsenal would have won the home game against Liverpool if it was not for Injuries against key defenders and a refused last minute goal. So, even with a good striker the situation would have been difficult with all the injuries. However, we Gooners need to take heart because we are still in second place and have a good chance to win champions league. There is always a tomorrow and our tomorrow is coming soon. The fact that our team has not lost many games in spite of those setbacks makes one confident for the future.
One should not forget the three controversial red cards that cost us points in games which we were leading. Was this conspiracy? I wouldn’t know but the fact is those red cards were costly for us. Let us not engage in self recriminations but rather look at the situation objectively.
Poor tactics, poor decisions, and letting one goal leads slip, is the reason. Too many draws and defeats from winning positions, and against lesser teams, whom we should beat. Its been a theme over 5 seasons. We can’t beat the teams we should. Our fom in the top six is good. Our form with the bottom half is NOT. Our game management is poor.