Jamie Carragher sends Mikel Arteta brutal Arsenal Premier League warning - 'he will be furious'
by Bruna Reis · football.londonJamie Carragher believes Arsenal will be glancing over their shoulders for the remainder of the season after dropping points against Crystal Palace.
With the Premier League title edging towards rivals Liverpool, Arsenal still have five games remaining. Mikel Arteta's side will host Bournemouth between their two Champions League semi-final legs against Paris Saint-Germain, before facing a trip to Liverpool at the end of the month.
After that, they will host Newcastle United in the penultimate game of the season.
Having to settle for a point against Palace, thanks to a late strike from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Carragher believes the Gunners can’t afford any more slip-ups, with Manchester City just six points behind in third.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "I think he will be furious tonight, Mikel Arteta. They'll be fine in terms of qualifying for the Champions League but the point being is, you want to put it to bed as early as you can.
"Now, when we look at the fixtures, they've got Bournemouth - not an easy game at home, in between the two biggest games of the season. If you win tonight, you can almost write off the Bournemouth game and you change the whole team. I don't think he's in a position to do that because of what comes next, Liverpool away.
"If you put out a really weak team against Bournemouth, I think he would've wanted to do, to really go to really go for this Champions League final, and you'll lose the game, you go to Anfield, and there's a good chance you'll lose at Liverpool, on the back of playing PSG. Liverpool are at home with a free week, if they lose their next two games, the others are a point or two behind you, I mean you've got Newcastle.
"Then Newcastle becomes a crunch game so that's why I think he'll be furious. If they'd put this to bed now and then we can concentrate on the two Paris Saint-Germain games, and we'd be fine. They'll qualify for the Champions League next year but you just don't want that sort of thing, you're looking behind, you're looking over your shoulder.
"I've just looked at the stats there, I can't believe they're six points ahead of Man City. City have had an awful season by their standards, they've won the same amount of games, they've both won 18 - you can't believe that."
Meanwhile, former Gunners winger Theo Walcott, believes the current squad are not being pushed enough. "There has been discipline issues, there's been referee decisions and injuries as well, but it just shows for me that certain players, obviously this going back to [Martin] Odegaard, starting to feel a bit comfortable, and not being pushed a bit more.
"The goalkeeper tonight, yeah, a bit indifferent, but [David] Raya has been absolutely fantastic for many times because there will be a period of times, he won't be on the ball at all but he's always been very consistent. Tonight, there was a few wobbles but it's one of those, I think he's that type of character that would really put this to bed.
"As a goalkeeper, if you make a poor error, you just need to forget about it, otherwise you won't be able to play at the top level and particularly for Arsenal. So for me, Raya, I'm not bothered about, I'm talking about other players in certain positions that will be too comfortable and need to be pushed."
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