Jamie Carragher has hinted at why Arsenal aren’t a “great team” after defeat to Bournemouth and highlighted Mikel Arteta’s “biggest problem”.
The 2-0 defeat to the Cherries was the first of the season but it was the third case of the Gunners shooting themselves in the foot, with William Saliba the latest player to be shown a red card following the dismissals of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard.
They drew those other two games and the dropped points leaves them four points off Liverpool and three behind Manchester City in the title race.
And Carragher insists they “can do more” in games when they have a man sent off, insinuating that they’re not a “great team” in the process.
Speaking on Monday night, Carragher said: “They should be doing more in those games. They have gone really defensive.
“I get the Man City game, but can they do more with 10 men? You can still win! But they have dropped points every game.
“Great teams who have won league titles have still won with 10 men.
“Their biggest problem isn’t points, it’s how often they get red cards. This has to stop. If you keep getting red cards, you aren’t going to pull it back.”
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Carragher’s comments echo that of fellow pundit Gary Neville who complained about Arsenal’s attitude towards missing players after the game, but stressed they can still become Premier League champions.
“No Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard or Jurrien Timber against Bournemouth? I get that but we’re talking about playing Bournemouth, who are a good side, but they have a squad of 20 to deal with Champions League football and a couple of injuries,” Neville told Sky Sports.
“Arsenal without Saliba against Liverpool – they had the excuse a couple of seasons ago [when he was out injured in the run-in] and that was accepted, he was a big loss. But they’ve added players to the squad to be able to deal with that now.
“You can’t be one player away, having a one-match ban, and the level go from here [high] to here [low]. You have to remain consistent and reliable if you get an injury.
“Next week we can’t talk about ‘so-and-so isn’t playing’. There’s been a lot of money, a lot of improvement. Now’s the time to go and show it.
“They’re still in with a big chance. It’s very early in the season. Next Sunday is a big test for Liverpool and a big question for Arsenal without Saliba.”
Mikel Arteta said after the game that his side gave themselves an “impossible task” and pointed to “two big errors” that cost them.
“Playing for 65 minutes with 10 men at this level is an impossible task,” Arteta said.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I can’t fault the team for their effort, commitment, how intelligent they were to play in the way that we had to.
“There was a big moment at 0-0 when we had a big opening, a one-against-one situation with the keeper and we don’t manage to score.
“Football is a sport where errors are part of that. Tonight we made two big errors that have cost us the game unfortunately.”
