Jamie Carragher names Arsenal problem that'll leave Mikel Arteta 'furious' after slip-up
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side dropped points for the third time in four Premier League games on Wednesday, as Crystal Palace fought back twice and earned a 2-2 draw at the Emirates
Jamie Carragher believes that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be 'furious' after they missed another chance to move closer to securing Champions League football next season. The Gunners slipped to a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace on Wednesday, having taken the lead twice in the first half.
Arsenal currently need six points from their final four matches to make certain that they'll have a place in next season's Champions League, as despite comfortably sitting second, five teams can still catch them. Arteta's side have only won one of their last four Premier League games, not only handing Liverpool an easier task to wrap up the title but also put their own finish in jeopardy.
Between the two legs of their hotly-anticipated Champions League semi-final with Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal host eighth-placed Bournemouth. The Gunners then play Liverpool away from home before a potentially huge clash with Newcastle at the Emirates.
Although Arsenal would need a serious collapse to drop out of the top five places, Carragher reckons that Arteta won't be happy that it still isn't 'put to bed'. "I think he'll be furious tonight, Mikel Arteta," the Liverpool legend told Sky Sports after Wednesday's draw. "They'll be fine in terms of qualifying for the Champions League, but you want to put that to bed as early as you can.
"When you look at the fixtures, then you've got Bournemouth, which is not an easy game, at home. But that's in between the two biggest games of the season. If you win tonight, you can almost write the Bournemouth game off and change the whole team - I don't think he's in a position to do that because of what comes next. Liverpool away.
READ MORE: Crystal Palace send three-word message to Liverpool after handing Reds title favourREAD MORE: Liverpool forced to delay title party as best and worst of careless Arsenal on show"So, if you put a really weakened team out against Bournemouth, which I think he would have wanted to do to really go for this Champions League final, and you lose the game, and then you go to Anfield and there's a good chance you're going to lose at Liverpool off the back of playing PSG - Liverpool are at home with a free week. If they lose the next two games, the others are only a point or two behind you, and then you've got Newcastle.
"That's why I think he'll be furious, and that's why I think he made his team as strong as he did at Ipswich - if we put this to bed now and then we can concentrate on the two Paris Saint-Germain games and we'll be fine. They'll qualify for the Champions League next year, of course they will, but you just don't want that sort of thing where you're looking behind you, looking over your shoulder.
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"I've just looked at the stats then and can't believe... they're six points ahead of City, City have had an awful season by their standards [but] they've won the same amount of games in the Premier League. They've both won 18. You can't believe that."
Arteta was asked post-match if he felt that the PSG tie was on his players' minds instead of the task at hand. "Hopefully not," the Arsenal boss replied. "But we discussed that before Ipswich, and it wasn't there, and today we still had six days to prepare that match, and I don't want to use that [as an excuse].
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