Arsenal’s defensive side of the game continues to get plaudits. Mikel Arteta recently boasted about his excellent defence. To echo the Arsenal manager’s comments, Jamie Carragher has openly named Arsenal as one of the best defensive teams in the Premier League this season.
The Liverpool legend remains skeptical that Arsenal will win the title, though he notes that their defensive record may be enough to propel them to a Premier League triumph.
Speaking on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports, he stated, “They were better than Liverpool in all areas, but the big thing that stood out for me was how strong they were defensively. I never felt at any point in that game that Liverpool looked threatening or that a goal was coming. Liverpool got a fortunate goal; we know that.
“I said after the game that the result was better for Manchester City than Arsenal, but Arsenal do have a slim chance of winning the title.
“That chance comes from how good they are defensively.”
Arsenal have been outstanding defensively. William Saliba has continued to demonstrate his class, while Gabriel Magalhaes appears to be on a resurgence mission. In 23 match days of the 2023–24 season, Arsenal (and Liverpool) have conceded the fewest goals (22), demonstrating how robust their defence is. Manchester City, Tottenham, and Aston Villa, who are also vying for the top spot, have respectively conceded 25, 35, and 30 goals, showing just how good the Gunners’ defence is.
Alex Ferguson famously remarked that attack wins you games, defence wins you titles, and if this Arsenal defence can stay injury-free, I believe they should be favourites to win the league.
Daniel O
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7 clean sheets out of 23 games isn’t the best defence.
Well Jordan Pickford has the most clean sheets this season at 8, followed by Alissons and Onanas 7 so I guess we’re not that bad.
I think our defense is still suffering from certain, glaring individual mistakes which happen from time to time (Saliba/Raya this weekend, Zinchenko couple of times, conceding in the first 2 minutes etc).
If we can move from those, we will be even harder to crack.
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That Alex Ferguson’s statement was made when Man United and Arsenal were the only dominant teams in EPL, before too many billionaires made massive investments in English football business
We have also failed too many tests, when we played against Spuds, Chelsea, Newcastle, Fulham and West Ham
We just won against Liverpool at home, but we allowed them to dominate us in ball-possession and to make too many long shots
Based on our instability, I’d be surprised if we win EPL
@Gai A combination of many things is what wins Epl trophy. We are doing alright at the back but makes unbelievable errors at time. That can happen; but our lack of ruthlessness in front of goals make winning Epl a probability. Our next few games would speak volume about our credencials. Nothing is impossible in football, let’s see if we can go on a winning run.
We can only hope Man City and Liverpool slip in some matches
Alongside our midfield,attack and subs bench, we will!
Complete team effort is what it takes to win the PL. But, in our case, since we struggle a little to score, our defending (as a team) will have to play a major role in our success between now and the end of the season.
I think the timing of Timber coming back and the level at which he will play, when he does play, will have a big influence on how nervy the end of our season will be.
Couldn’t have said it better…also,we have not lost to any of the “big” teams so far…I’m not counting the newcastle game…you are spot on about timber…he and partey can DEFINITELY make a huge difference if they are on point
The last line “defence wins you titles, and if this Arsenal defence can stay injury-free, I believe they should be favourites to win the league.” Not much difference than last season looking at the tables.
Last season p23 w17 d3 l3 f 51 a21 Pts 54.
This season p23 w15 d4 l4 f47 a22 Pts 49
Optimistic in that we have better players coming back such as Timber but we don’t need any more injuries at back as will fall away as last season.
Yet another writer who trots out a half baked and often plain wrong cliche, ratther than speak PLAIN TRUTH.
Daniel, what wins a cluba title, is not the best defence nor the best attack but a richly talented squad where ALL team departments are superb and there is deep cover.
Based on that truth – and here I anm going to make an unpopular but REALISTIC point ands say that whan compared to Citys overall squad we are still well adrift.
Thet have ben without world class players sin De Bruyne, for the whole season till last week and Stones for long periods and HAARLAND FOR TWO MONTHS, and yet are still top if theybeat lowly Burnley (as they will), next weekend.
Our squad overall compares closely with Liverpools but they have the priceles advantage of several natural strikers while we have NO striker who can strike REGULARLY.
My belief is that we will finish probably third, behind City as champs and Liverpool second. Injuries from now on, including our still to return long term absentees, will decide by how many points though.
For those who prefer their own club bias to realism, then if thats your personal choice , so be it.
It is NOT MINE and never has been, never will be.
None of the above means I still do not hope of course.
But for me it is hope and NOT EXPECTATION!
John fox…you speak as if your opinion is a book in the Bible.. I don’t think city will beat us at the Etihad and I believe we are capable of better football than city…pretty sure liverpool will have their 3 or 4 match rut…there is a reason no team has ever won the epl 4 times
Agree with you Jon and what scares me is their bench. Even Grealish spends more time on it these days now they have Doku and when Stones Is fully fit they will be even stronger. That said, there is always a very small chance they might slip up?
Jon, are you off your meds again? For someone so critical of others I feel compelled to comment on the litany of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, typos and all-round egregiously poor writing style. Whatever point you were trying to make is completely undermined by your inability to express it coherently.
I think the presence of Rice has been instrumental in terms of making life more difficult for the opposition to hit our back four on the counterattack.White, Saliba and Gabriel have been pretty solid individually and collectively and although they are not immune from making mistakes, they are still on an upward curve and showing more resolve to cut them out as evidenced by White’s recent confrontation with Zinchenko who is not of course a left back and never will be.
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Defensively are Arsenal are really strong. Going to West Ham, MA must play Jorgino, Tomiyaso coming back is a big boost. Must also play Trossard more, in sum cases he must rest Saka, protect him from exhaustion & injuries. Play Havatz more on striker position. Zin is a midfielder not a left back…..
It amazes me how this “great” defense can look so bad at times. So, no it won’t. It isn’t that great it’s just helped by the fact we have most of the ball. It looks better with Tomiyasu or Kiwior at LB.