Jamie Carragher explains what's 'not normal' about Arsenal's title challenge

View 2 Images

Jamie Carragher says Arsenal's title challenge this season's is 'not normal' - insisting the Gunners are lacking a 'superstar' in their squad. Arsenal's title aspirations took a blow at the weekend following a 3-2 home defeat to Manchester United.

Mikel Arteta's outfit currently hold a four-point advantage over Manchester City in the Premier League standings following the weekend's fixtures. City secure a 2-0 victory against Wolves at the Etihad Stadium.

The Gunners have 15 league matches remaining this campaign, with an away fixture at Leeds United scheduled for the weekend following their midweek Champions League commitments. Speaking on Sky Sports ' Monday Night Football , Carragher suggested that none of Arsenal's attacking players would feature in the Premier League's team of the season thus far, even though they are top of the league.

Arsenal's leading scorers in the league this term are Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard , who have both netted five goals apiece. Behind them, Bukayo Saka , Declan Rice , Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino have each contributed four league goals this season, with Carragher arguing they lack an elite player within their ranks.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news and more on our dedicated Facebook page

Carragher questioned: “When have you ever seen a team at the top of the table, who have been top by six or seven points, but if you were picking the best team of the Premier League so far, you wouldn’t have one of their players in the front four? That is not normal, that would never happen.

"The best team in the league would always have at least one, maybe two players [forwards], in the team of the season. Arsenal don’t have that right now, and that plays into the fact that they don’t have a genuine superstar at the top end of the pitch.”

Echoing Carragher's sentiments, former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast: “If Arsenal win the league, this could be the worst team to win the league,” said Scholes.

View 2 Images

“If you’re thinking of picking a team of the season and picking the front four, nobody from the Arsenal team gets in that. Look at previous champions - Liverpool ’s forwards, brilliant.”

“Possibly the only one is Saka, and I don’t think he’s been brilliant. He’s not scored many goals this year or assists.”

Arteta said after the defeat to United: “In the second half they had two brilliant goals, some individual quality and magic moments. I think we managed to shift the energy, score the second goal, and you could feel that everything changed. The game was ready to go and win it.”

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.