Jamie Carragher has revealed Arsenal’s biggest ‘problem’ this season and his ‘worry’ for Premier League champions Liverpool.
Both Liverpool and Arsenal are expected to challenge for the title this season after finishing first and second last term.
The reigning champions have enjoyed a brilliant transfer window, spending almost £300m on the likes of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Hugo Ekitike.
Liverpool have also agreed personal terms with Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi and are still expected to make another bid for Alexander Isak.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have made a number of strong signings themselves, bringing in Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke among others.
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The Gunners have finished as runners-up for three years in a row and as a result Carragher believes there is more ‘pressure’ on Arsenal than other club.
Speaking on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, the former Liverpool and England defender said: ‘I think for Arsenal, I like the players they’ve brought in.
‘But I don’t think there’s an absolute game changer in terms of… Maybe upfront, you know, they’ve brought in the striker and it will be really interesting to see how he does.
‘But I just think with Arsenal, the problem they’ll have is not so much whether they’re good enough. I think, you know, if they can get back to where they were a couple of years ago, they’ve got a chance.
‘They’ve got [Martin] Zubimendi and then the striker. But I think there’ll be that much pressure on them, even from their own supporters in the stadium, it almost feels like it’s now or never.
‘If Arsenal finished second again, it won’t be seen as a decent season. It’ll almost be seen as a disaster. And playing with that pressure for the whole season I think is what will make it tough for them.’
Liverpool are favourites to win the Premier League once again but Arne Slot’s side showed they are not unstoppable by losing the Community Shield to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Carragher described Liverpool’s performance at Wembley as ‘a little bit worrying’ and cannot see his former club ‘running away’ with the title.
‘I think a lot of the talk of the moment is that Liverpool could run away with the league because of what they’ve done in the summer,’ the 47-year-old pundit added.
‘I don’t quite see that, and I actually think the way Liverpool played on Sunday, even though it was only one game, I thought it was a little bit worrying.
‘Not so much the result, it was how the actual game went. It almost looked like they had too many attacking players on the pitch. I think it’s going to be interesting how Arne Slot fixes that.’
Liverpool’s title defence begins on Friday night against Bournemouth, while Arsenal start their Premier League campaign on Sunday against Manchester United.
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