Jamie Carragher says England star could destroy Arsenal’s title hopes

Jamie Carragher hailed Morgan Rogers as a ‘special’ talent after Aston Villa’s dramatic 3-2 win over West Ham, claiming the midfielder will likely be ‘key’ if the club are to win the Premier League title.

Villa had looked on course to suffer their first defeat since early November after Mateus Fernandes and Jarrod Bowen found the net either side of Konstantinos Mavropanos’ own goal at the London Stadium on Sunday.

But the visitors clawed themselves back into the contest in the second period, with Rogers keeping his cool to squeeze the ball past Alphonse Areola and equalise in the 50th minute.

Rogers, last season’s PFA Young Player of the Year, was not done there, though, with the 23-year-old providing the standout moment of quality in the match to ensure Unai Emery’s men came away with all three points.

After being fed by Victor Lindelof, the England international took two touches before unleashing a dipping 25-yard strike to beat Areola and send Villa’s away support into a frenzy.

Emery’s side held firm to stay within three points of top-of-the-table Arsenal, who survived a late scare to defeat Wolves on Saturday. Manchester City, meanwhile, held onto second place after cruising to a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Talk of Villa being outsiders for the title has grown louder in recent weeks, with the team riding a nine-match winning streak in all competitions heading into their gruelling winter schedule.

The Villains will look to pick up where they left off when they return to top-flight action at home to Manchester United in a week’s time.

‘The upturn in form since what we saw in those first few weeks of the season is just a complete contrast,’ ex-Liverpool and England defender Carragher said on Sky Sports following Villa’s win.

‘But we go back to the manager a lot and rightly so. I think there’s only Pep Guardiola in the Premier League right now who is a better manager than Unai Emery.

‘When you actually look at his CV and what he’s actually done in his career, there’s some top managers in the league but, as I said, he’s got a great CV and he’s done a brilliant job as well.

‘But Morgan Rogers is something special.’

According to Carragher, Emery has ‘one of the best players in the Premier League’ to call on in Rogers.

‘He just seems to be one of those players who sort of came from nowhere in some ways,’ he added.

‘They signed him from Middlesbrough for not a huge fee and he’s gone on right now to not just being one of the best young players in the Premier League, which is what he was last season, PFA Young Player of the Year, he’s now looking like one of the best players in the Premier League.

‘That could be key if Aston Villa do feel that they could go on and contest the league title or actually go on and win it.’

On Rogers’ breathtaking 79th-minute winner, Carragher continued: ‘It’s not a one-off.

‘We have seen it before, this technique, but we normally see it on free-kicks.

‘We saw it at Leeds, he gets the goal there, and it’s knuckle ball-esque shall we say.

‘What I haven’t seen before is people getting goals in open play using this technique. It’s obviously a lot easier with the free-kick as the ball is stationary.’

Carragher believes Morgan’s influence at Villa can now be likened to that of Erling Haaland at Manchester City and Declan Rice at Arsenal.

‘This is what’s making him a really special player in the Premier League. He’s seen a technique that we’ve seen before,’ he went on.

‘But seeing it in free play is something that he must have worked on in training as well and that’s why I go back to: can Aston Villa win the title?

‘I don’t think they can but if you are to win a title, and let’s say Manchester City go and win the title, we’d say, “OK, they’ve got Erling Haaland who could be the best player in the league”, and if I look at Arsenal then I think of Declan Rice. I see him as maybe a Player of the Year candidate.

‘But with Aston Villa, who could drive them to the title? Who is that special that could almost be head and shoulders above everybody in the Premier League? The one player I look at is Morgan Rogers.

‘He was PFA Young Player of the Year. Could he go on and be the PFA Player of the Year this season and drag Villa really close to a league title?’

Barring a sudden drop of form or injury, Rogers appears a shoo-in for a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

And with Rogers going from strength to strength, Carragher feels it is not out of the question that the midfielder could overtake Jude Bellingham in the pecking order to start as the Three Lions’ No.10.

He explained: ‘He’s been one of those players, probably along with Elliot Anderson, in the last six months, for England who most people look at and think, “Oh, in the England team? That’s a bold move”, but the longer they’re in there the more you think they should be in there.

‘But what I would say is Morgan Rogers is competing with arguably our best player right now, he plays for Real Madrid, in Jude Bellingham.

‘Bellingham played the last England game and I think in the eyes of most and mine, I must admit that, I think: once we get to the World Cup, Jude Bellingham will be playing in that position.

‘But the more I watch Rogers play, and I actually think Thomas Tuchel thinks like this, this is not an easy decision that Bellingham comes back in.

‘This is a real fight for Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers to see who is going to play in that No.10 position behind Harry Kane and if Rogers keeps playing like that then it’s certainly not a given.’