Graeme Souness believes Arsenal are ‘still a few top strikers away’ from difficult Premier League leaders Liverpool and says Kai Havertz is ‘not the reply’.
Arsenal travelled to Dubai for some warm weather training earlier within the week sitting six points behind Premier League title rivals Liverpool.
The Gunners are difficult for the title for the third successive season but Souness believes there continues to be a ‘fundamental difference’ between Arsenal and Liverpool when it comes to the goalscorers on the respective clubs.
Souness insists Havertz is ‘not the reply’ for a title-chasing club and says he has ‘not got any higher’ since joining Arsenal from Chelsea in 2023.
Despite lifting the Champions League trophy at Stamford Bridge, Havertz largely underwhelmed at Chelsea before his £65m switch to the Emirates Stadium.
‘Mikel Arteta has built a very good team who’re still a few top strikers away from difficult Liverpool to be the perfect,’ Souness told MailSport.
‘Those strikers are the toughest thing to search out. A very powerful ingredient in constructing a winning team – and really much Arsenal’s missing ingredient.
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‘Put Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak in that Arsenal team – because he’s the player they wish to buy this summer – and you’re looking at a side who can be the finished article and able to get their hands on either of the 2 big trophies.
‘The club’s Carabao Cup semi-final this week proved my point. Yes, Arsenal were beaten by Newcastle United, but for me they were the higher team.
‘Stats never go near to telling the complete story in fact, but Arsenal had 68 per cent possession in that game, 69.5 per cent possession in the primary leg and yet still went out 4-0 on aggregate because they didn’t have anyone to place the ball in the online across those 180 minutes.
‘Arsenal must have owned those games. Someday, they go and rating five against Manchester City. Three days later they dominate Newcastle and are available unstuck.
‘I assure you that they may have come away from St James’ Park pondering, “how have we not passed through over two legs?” They’ll’t afford that inconsistency.
‘It’s the elemental difference between them and Liverpool. My old club have higher goalscorers, which implies they don’t must play well to win games and are less reliant on set-pieces. But without those strikers, Arsenal must play well to win games.
‘They spent £65million in June 2023 to take Kai Havertz from Chelsea, believing Mikel could make him a greater player.
‘Well, I’m afraid that’s not happened. Havertz has not got any higher. He is just not the reply for them.
‘It doesn’t surprise me that Mikel has come out this week and said he’s disenchanted together with his club’s business within the transfer window.
‘The proven fact that Arsenal were attempting to buy Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa within the last knockings of the winter transfer window tells you ways badly they wanted a striker.
‘If Arsenal had met the asking price of £60m-plus for that 29-year-old early within the window – and before Jhon Duran was sold to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia – they may have gotten him.
‘Had that proved the difference between them winning the title or being the nearly-men again, they’d have felt the value was value it.
‘For them to make a last-minute bid like that tells you that Mikel was desperate. Really desperate.
‘Once they do get the proper striker or strikers in, that club will probably be a force for anyone and a club to fear. Until then, where the title is anxious, I’m afraid they’re looking like a near miss.’
Havertz has scored 29 goals in 85 appearances for Arsenal and was heading in the right direction within the club’s last Premier League match – an emphatic 5-1 win over Manchester City.
That result buoyed Arsenal fans ahead of their trip to St James’ Park on Wednesday night but Arteta’s side not only didn’t overturn a two-goal deficit but lost again by two goals to fail to make the Carabao Cup final.
Arsenal still have aspirations of winning the Premier League and Champions League but might want to either reel in Liverpool or beat the perfect teams in Europe to accomplish that.
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