Carragher tells Arsenal to replace summer signing as he reveals ‘worry’ for CL – ‘it’s not clicked’
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has told Arsenal to sign a replacement for summer signing Viktor Gyokeres and has revealed another “worry”.
Gyokeres joined Arsenal last summer in an apparent fix for Mikel Arteta’s forward issues. He signed for the north London club from Sporting Lisbon for around £64m.
He has 16 goals in his 42 appearances for Arsenal this season, but he has looked out of his depth at times and has often been ineffective against top opposition.
This was the case against Man City in the Carabao Cup final, with Arsenal producing one of their worst performances of the season in the 2-0 loss at Wembley.
Reflecting on the loss to Man City, Carragher is still backing Arsenal to win the Premier League, but he is less sure about the Champions League.
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Carragher is doubtful about their Champions League chances due to their lack of “special players” and has told them to replace Gyokeres.
“I don’t think it will affect the league because Arsenal have got such a big gap,” Carragher said on The Overlap.
“But my thing with Arsenal now – and you could probably say this with every team in the Premier League – is there’s not enough special players.
“Arsenal are the best team in the league and have an amazing record but I still look at the attack and think it’s only okay.
“There’s no star player and sometimes you need that player when you’re not playing well like they wasn’t in the cup final.
“I don’t think Arsenal have enough special players in attack and that would worry me a bit for the Champions League.
“I thought two years ago that [Bukayo] Saka and [Martin] Odegaard were going to be the real deal and be like [Mohamed] Salah and [Kevin] De Bruyne. They were nearly there.
“Arsenal are probably going to win the league but if they do I don’t think any of the attacking players will think they’ve had an amazing season. It’s just not clicked.”
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After Arsenal legend Ian Wright discussed the performance of Gyokeres against Man City, Carragher added: “You still need to buy a centre forward.”
Unlike Carragher, former Chelsea star Gus Poyet is less sure about Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League this season.
“If Arsenal weren’t to win the Premier League this season, it would be an absolute disaster. It would probably spell the end of the era at the club,” Poyet told BetWright.
“They have been far ahead of Manchester City in previous years and not got the job done before, although it was a different situation that time where City had games in hand. It looks unlikely they can do that again, but if it did happen, it would be catastrophic.
“With that said, the international break being now is perfect for Arsenal. If they had a game this week after their defeat in the final with the pressure and they concede a goal, the failures in previous years could come into the players’ minds. The fact they have two weeks away to regroup and forget about the final will be better for them.
“The focus will undoubtedly be on Arsenal going forward into their next few games, but I think it will be very hard for them to not win the league from this position.”
