Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has been talking his old club and their Premier League title battle with Liverpool and Manchester City
Sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table, and with a club record-breaking run of 10 wins from 11 matches in all competitions since taking over from Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, it’s safe to say Arne Slot has made an impressive start to life in the Liverpool hotseat. So much so that he’s left one former Arsenal defender confused.
Liverpool will head to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday (4.30pm kick-off) with a four-point lead over Arsenal, who have been Manchester City’s main rivals for the title in the past two seasons. While still early in the campaign, victory for the Reds would deal a potentially fatal blow to the Gunners’ chances of winning the league for the first time under Mikel Arteta.
And speaking ahead of the match, William Gallas has been offering his thoughts to Prime Casino. “City are consistent. Liverpool are consistent, even with the new manager Arne Slot coming in,” said the 84-capped France international, who played for the Gunners between 2006 and 2010 before joining their north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
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“He’s made following in the footsteps of Klopp look easy, and we’ve seen clubs attempt to replace legendary managers and find things far from easy.
“He should have the most difficult managers job in the league. It usually takes time for managers to have this type of impact, and usually managers ask for time. Slot has come in, bang! Top of the league.
“For me, that’s why if Arsenal doesn’t win the league this season, it’s a big drama. It’s a big drama, because you have to think about Arteta being in charge of that club for how long? Five years.
“Five years and they haven’t won the Premier League yet. If Liverpool win the Premier League in Slot’s first season, what does that say about Arteta and Arsenal? It would create a huge amount of drama.”
The Gunners suffered their first defeat of the Premier League campaign last Saturday. They went down 2-0 at Bournemouth after William Saliba became the third Arsenal player to be sent off this season.
Saliba will be suspended for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday with manager Arteta set to be without a number of key men including captain Martin Odegaard and winger Bukayo Saka.
And Gallas said: “Listen, the problem with Arsenal is always the same and it looks like it won’t change. If they play against big teams, every player will be 100%. If they play against small teams, some players are not 100%. It’s difficult for me to understand this, but it’s true.
“Saliba gets a red card against Bournemouth, but even so, if you want to win the Premier League title, you find a way to win that game. You have to win that game. It’s the first defeat of the season, but it’s still damaging. Arsenal can’t afford to lose ground on Liverpool and Manchester City because it will be very, very hard to catch them.
“Saliba can have no complaints about the red card. It was a bad mistake from him, and he made mistakes in the games that he played for France (before the Bournemouth match). He doesn’t normally make mistakes, and, at the moment, he looks tired.
“Players play so much these days, sometimes you need to rotate your team and give them a break. Saliba has been ever-present for the last two seasons – he is only a young guy – he looks like a player who needs a rest.
“If you want to win the title, you’ve got to beat the small teams in the league home and away. If you draw, it’s the same feeling as a loss because you know how good Manchester City are. Arsenal need to understand that they can’t drop points like this if they want to be champions this season.
“You can’t blame the defeat on Saka or Odegaard not being available. Those are excuses that I don’t want to hear because Arsenal have a big squad. When Manchester City lose a couple of key players, do they drop points? You don’t see any difference.
“I was upset about Arsenal, because I don’t want them to let me down. And I told you, two years ago, they will win the league, so please don’t let me down, Arsenal!”
City have the chance to move above the Reds at the top when they host struggling Southampton on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
