Paul Scholes voices major Arsenal concern as Man Utd legend makes four-word claim

Paul Scholes has spotted a problem that he believes will cost Arsenal the Premier League title.

The Gunners have made a strong start to the season and remain one of four unbeaten teams after five games. Mikel Arteta’s side came agonisingly close to triumphing over title rivals Manchester City on Sunday, despite going down to 10 men, but were forced to settle for a point at the Etihad Stadium after John Stones ’ stoppage-time equaliser.

It was a change in tact from Arsenal, who faced criticism for their approach in the same fixture last season. The Gunners offered little in attack when the two sides played out a 0-0 draw in March, with some pundits arguing that Arsenal had not seized their chance to widen the gap between themselves and City.

Despite continuing to rely upon their defence, Arteta’s team have developed into a renowned threat from set pieces, with defender Gabriel Magalhaes scoring in back-to-back games. However, Manchester United legend Scholes still believes that “it’s not quite clicking” for Arsenal, having been unconvinced by their attacking threat in open play.

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“Arsenal, at some point, have got to beat them [Manchester City at the Etihad],” Scholes said on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet. “They nearly did it, and it was a great effort. I sat here at the start of the season and thought Arsenal might win the league, but I’ve been a little bit disappointed with their start to the season.

“Arsenal have been poor going forward this season. You look at all the goals they scored last year, and everyone was talking about getting a centre forward in the summer and you thought they probably didn’t need it. But five or six games in, it feels like Arsenal are struggling – it’s not quite clicking.”

The club have scored eight goals so far in the new campaign, with five teams boasting higher goal tallies. Arsenal opted against signing a striker in the summer and Kai Havertz subsequently impressed with two goals in three games, but the Germany international has been forced to tweak his game following Martin Odegaard’s injury, dropping deeper to play alongside Gabriel Jesus in attack.

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A key factor in Arsenal’s performances, not mentioned by Scholes, has been the difficulty of their opening games: going away to Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and City, as well as hosting Brighton. While Arteta has been asked about his team wanting to play more attractive football, the Gunners boss has insisted that his team’s ability to battle for results is equally crucial.

“It is not something that we notice, it is something that we had to instil in them - because you cannot play without that level of concentration, focus and discipline for that long, thrown into that context, if you don’t love it,” Arteta said. “Somehow you have to love. If not, you start to miss bits and spaces and the passes start to break and you get punished”

Addressing Arsenal’s performance after going down to 10 men against Man City, Arteta added: “We learnt from the past. Unfortunately, we’ve been in the same situation a few times. We were in that same situation with Granit [Xhaka] after 38 minutes and we lost 5-0. We’d better learn. If not I would be thick, very thick.”

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