Rio Ferdinand has revealed two concerns for Arsenal as they chase a long-awaited Premier League title under Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal looked impenetrable in the course of the first few months of the season but dropped points in three of their last five games has brought them back to the chasing pack.
Mikel Arteta’s side drew 2-2 with Sunderland in the beginning of last month before failing to beat ten-man Chelsea at the tip of November.
Arsenal suffered just their second defeat of the season on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Aston Villa due to Emiliano Buendia’s dramatic last-minute winner.
The Gunners are actually just two points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and three ahead of their last opponents, Aston Villa and ex-Arsenal manager Unai Emery.
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Ferdinand had downplayed Arsenal’s recent wobble and still expects the Gunners to change into Premier League champions for the primary time since 2004.
Nevertheless, Ferdinand, a winner of six league titles at Manchester United, says it’s lower than ideal for Arsenal that Man City are so close despite being ‘bang average this season’.
Ferdinand also says Arsenal’s injury record is a cause for concern, with Arteta having to make do without plenty of first-team stars.
‘Arsenal are only two points above Man City, who’ve been bang average this season, and three above Aston Villa,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
‘Arsenal fans are so up and down, it’s unbelievable. I still think Arsenal will win the league. I do.
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‘They’re making labor of it now but what team doesn’t undergo those spells sooner or later?
‘The injuries are killing Arsenal but I still think they win the title. Arsenal fans are so up and down which is comprehensible because they’ve been starved off success.
‘But I feel they recover from the road and it could possibly be the beginning of something special for that team.’
Ferdinand’s former teammate Paul Scholes has also warned Arsenal of the specter of Manchester City, who won 4 league titles in a row before ending third last season.
‘Man City have an amazing likelihood now, don’t they?’ Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
‘I still don’t think they’re quite right but they all the time improve within the second-half of the season and the thing with Arsenal is that they can’t win a giant game.
‘Until they begin winning big games they’ve got no likelihood of winning the league.
‘They lost to Liverpool, they couldn’t beat Man City at home once they were struggling. Aston Villa are team, don’t get me fallacious, but Arsenal just can’t win big games. They couldn’t beat Chelsea after they went all the way down to ten men.
‘If you’re going to win the league you’ve got to start out winning some big games, you’ve got to beat your rivals, and so they can’t do it.
‘Historically Man City all the time improve after January. They were within the Club World Cup so that they didn’t really have a pre-season.’
Arsenal return to Premier League motion on Saturday against bottom-placed Wolves following a midweek Champions League clash at Club Brugge.
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