Thierry Henry feels Arsenal should be concerned about Manchester City in the Premier League title race, saying he has been ‘very impressed’ with Pep Guardiola’s side of late.
The Gunners are four points clear at the top of the table after 11 games, winning eight of them, so things are going very well for Mikel Arteta’s side.
The last round of fixtures was a good one for Manchester City, though, as they impressively beat Liverpool 3-0 and Arsenal dropped points in a 2-2 draw at Sunderland.
Clearly the Gunners remain in an excellent position, but Guadiola’s men are gaining momentum and Henry expects them to be a problem for Arsenal’s title hopes.
‘Very impressed,’ Henry told Betway of Manchester City. ‘I never thought he would have allowed his wingers to come inside so early in the build-up like they do.
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‘I never thought he would allow his left winger to go on the right. That would never have happened with Pep in the past – two wingers on the same side of the ball, like against Man Utd at home.
‘Pep has found a way. He had to find his starting 11, and you can see now that Jeremy Doku is clearly the guy on the left, while on the right it changes sometimes with [Rayan] Cherki or Savinho.
‘When you have Phil Foden coming back in form, it changes things, although I think he’s better in that No. 10 position on the right, where he can come back on his left foot and punish you.
‘We’re still waiting for Rodri to get back to a certain level. I think that’s a tiny bit missing, although Nico Gonzalez played well against Liverpool.
‘Now he has Nico O’Reilly starting to look like the player that everyone thought he was going to be, and they have a freak up front who can score in his sleep.’
Liverpool may be the reigning Premier League champions but their title defence has got off to a very poor start and Henry feels Manchester City are nightmare rivals for his former side to face.
‘If you’re an Arsenal fan, that’s exactly the team that you don’t want on your shoulder, because they know how to win,’ he said. ‘It’s not great as an Arsenal man to see them coming back to their level. They look like a team about to go on a run.
‘I think Pep had to deal with having two new assistants and a new way of playing. What you were hoping for while City made that adjustment is that Arsenal could go ahead and take some points, and that’s exactly what happened. But it was always going to be a battle.’
Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke went further than firing a warning to Arsenal, predicting that they will fail to get their hands on the title this season.
‘I just think Arsenal will do what Arsenal do again,’ Yorke told Snabbare. ‘I have a funny feeling that somehow they won’t get it over the line.
‘It depends on the competitions they are in too. I’m sure Mikel Arteta is going to prioritise everything. He’s trying to win it all but you’ve got to win your domestic league.
‘It could get pretty chaotic. I think Man City just have that know-how.’