Carragher names Arsenal star ‘who is really struggling’; claims none of Gunners’ forward line are ‘world class’

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher thinks Arsenal will struggle to win the Premier League title this season with their current forward line as “none of them are world class”.

The Gunners have only picked up four points out of their last five matches in the Premier League and have dropped down to fourth in the standings.

A 2-1 loss at Fulham was the latest match in which Arsenal dropped points and Carragher has been analysing why Mikel Arteta’s side are currently struggling.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: “They got in front against Fulham but they didn’t create too much after that. You thought they would go on to win the game comfortably but Fulham were outstanding.

“Arsenal have a problem defensively as they look really stretched with [Jurrien] Timber being out and [Takehiro] Tomiyasu only just coming back, [Oleksandr] Zinchenko missed the game.

“Set-piece wise, they’re usually so strong at both ends of the pitch so it was really a result off the back of the West Ham game. They’re two fixtures you look at and you think they should get at least four points – probably six – so to come out of it with nothing is a big blow for them.”

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On whether Arsenal can continue to rely on set-pieces to score goals, Carragher added: “No, they need to be scoring more from open play. On a recent MNF with Freddie Ljungberg, we were almost debating this different Arsenal. And it is a different Arsenal to the one we saw last season.

“My feeling then was that if the attacking front three or four didn’t improve, I felt Arsenal wouldn’t win the league. I still believe that.

“When I say it’s a different Arsenal, there’s definitely more control. The best way to describe it is that last season it was a bit ‘Jurgen Klopp Liverpool’ and this season it feels more like Man City.

“There’s less transition, there’s more control which I think helps them defensively. But does it help them offensively?

“The goal against Fulham saw them go from one end of the pitch to the other. An end-to-end game suits the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. Kai Havertz has come in and for me that hasn’t worked because both at Chelsea and now at Arsenal, you’re not quite sure where he plays.

“Out of the front four, Martinelli is the one who is really struggling. They had [Granit] Xhaka in a fixed No 8 position last season but this time we’ve seen Leandro Trossard sometimes play there, so too Declan Rice. I don’t think that’s helping Martinelli.

“All of Arsenal’s forwards have scored goals that you would associate with them. How often last season would we see Martin Odegaard scoring goals from a pull back to the edge of the box? We’ve seen it again this time around, so you can see the same patterns and organisation of Arsenal when they attack.

“It made me think whether they are too organised in attack? We see the same repetition but is there enough off-the-cuff? When was the last time you can remember an Arsenal player in those front three or Odegaard scoring a worldie? It’s all a bit too organised.

“They’re all having really good seasons but the gold standard of shot conversion is 20-plus. That’s what your Mo Salah, your Erling Haaland, your Harry Kane is getting.

“None of Arsenal’s front four have got above that number even last season. And yet they are still creating the same number of shots a game and they’ve still got the same xG so these players are underperforming from last season, when even then still wasn’t good enough in terms of winning a title.

“All four of Arsenal’s front are top players but none of them are world class. I think Saka can become world class, but in this league Liverpool won a title because they had Mo Salah.

“City have won titles in the past because they had [Sergio] Aguero and they’ve now got Haaland. Is that enough for Arsenal to win a league title? Are any of them world class right now to take Arsenal to a title? I’d say no.”