Jamie Carragher reckons Mikel Arteta s Arsenal are in danger of becoming like Mauricio Pochettino s Spurs no more than an afterthought as the nearly men of football.
, offering little having gone behind to Joshua Kimmich s goal early in the second half at the Allianz Arena.
The brutal reality for Arsenal
That followed a in the Premier League which leaves them two points behind Manchester City, who stormed past them to claim the title last season.
Arsenal still have Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United to play in their last six games, and most believe they will need a perfect record from now until the end of the season to prevent City winning it again.
And Carragher says Arteta s Arsenal are starting to remind him of Spurs under Pochettino, who came close to winning the Premier League and Champions League in his time in north London, but left the club potless.
Arteta already has an FA Cup in the bag at Arsenal, but that will feel like scant reward for a project that s been inarguably successful but is yet to lead to one of the really big trophies.
Carragher wrote in the Telegraph: Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are in danger of becoming Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs; a side to be admired for nearly being great.
The brutal reality is any Arsenal team that does not win one or more of the biggest prizes will never be more than an afterthought, and will be spoken about in almost patronising terms when compared to double winners or ‘invincibles’.
What next for the Arteta project?
The Liverpool legend says Wolves on Saturday has now become one of the biggest tests of the year for Arteta and his players as three defeats in a week would effectively end their hopes of a trophy, at which point Carragher claims we would have to wonder: What next for the Arteta project?
We talk a lot about taking the ‘next step’ in football, and generally mean moving forward, Carragher added. The next step is more often than not backwards. Spurs managed to get so far between 2015-2019 before it unravelled without a trophy. No matter how much promise there is, the windows of opportunity close quickly.
Carragher believes the logical next step for Arsenal would be for them to sign a player of Declan Rice s calibre in attack.
He added:
