Arsenal are struggling to win big trophies because they lack experience in their side, believes former Gunners striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
After three consecutive second-place finishes, Mikel Arteta is under some pressure to go one step further this season and land the Premier League title.
The Spaniard has been in charge of Arsenal since December 2019 and his only major trophy remains the 2020 FA Cup.
Despite significant progress being made by his team in the time at the helm, there has been little silverware to show for it and Adebayor feels there is not enough title-winning experience in the team.
The ex-Arsenal forward compares Gunners captain Martin Odegaard to Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk, believing that illustrates the gulf in experience of landing the big ones.
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‘It’s hard for them to win things because they will reach a time when they need the experience,’ Adebayor told Stadium Astro. ‘They will need a man to be in charge, which they don’t have.
‘Odegaard is the captain of the team and Odegaard is 26. But when you go to another club, when you go to Liverpool and the person in charge is 33. Van Dijk [34].
‘He won the Champions League, he won the [Premier] League, he won the FA Cup, Carling [Carabao] Cup, Community Shield. So the experience is not the same.’
Adebayor also suggested that other teams are more adaptable and accept playing in different ways to get results, which he does not think Arteta does at Arsenal.
‘If you look at how Manchester City played against Arsenal, it’s incredible,’ he said. ‘For the first ever time we see Man City accepting to play 5-4-1, park the bus at the back and defend.
‘This is not like Pep Guardiola, but there is a time that you have to know what you’re doing. Most of the players have been champions, they’ve won the Champions League, they know what it takes to win the league.
‘So you can see that no one refused their job, they all came back at some point, Erling Haaland was even playing centre-back, that proved that this team knows where they’re going.
‘But Arsenal, no matter what, no matter the result they keep the ball on the ground and pass it around because this is what these players are used to and this is what they know.’
Arteta looked like he was going to lose more ground in the early stages of the title race on Sunday, but two late goals saw his side come from behind to beat Newcastle 2-1 at St James’ Park.
The Gunners were behind to a Nick Woltemade goal, but Mikel Merino equalised on 84 minutes before a Gabriel winner deep into stoppage time.
With Liverpool losing at Crystal Palace on Saturday, the Reds are just two points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
Speaking after the dramatic victory, Arteta said: ‘Football is about emotion, and when you score in the last minute in a game that has been very, very competitive and you have the feeling that you fully deserve to win it, to win it in the manner that we’ve done it, it makes it obviously very special.
‘You have to learn from the past and the moments that you suffer, that’s sport. We’ve certainly done it, I think the way we played from the first minute, it was terrific. And we wanted that reward, so in order to do that you have to use every player, and believe and try in very different ways. We’ve done it, and in the end, we got what we wanted.’
‘I think it’s a big moment,’ he said on the Gary Neville podcast. ‘It’s only September and it’s ridiculous to be speaking like this as someone who experienced title races.
‘But what you’ve got to do is send out some calling cards and some clear messages that you’re there in the title race and I think that’s what Arsenal have done today.
‘A week ago the glass was half empty, now it’s more than half full. Liverpool lose, Arsenal win in stunning fashion.’