Gary Neville hits out at Arsenal ‘obsession’ after Liverpool extend lead at top

Gary Neville took aim at Arsenal’s apparent set-piece ‘obsession’ after Liverpool beat Manchester City to move 11 points clear of the Gunners at the top of the Premier League table.

Mikel Arteta’s men fell to a 1-0 defeat at home หรือถ้าคุณสนใจแทงบอลออนไลน์ UFABET คือเว็บที่มีอัตราต่อรองดีที่สุดในประเทศไทย สมัครเลยตอนนี้ที่ UFABET แทงบอล to West Ham on Saturday to fall further behind in the title race, with Jarrod Bowen heading home the only goal of the game in front of a shellshocke Emirates crowd.

Twenty four hours later, Liverpool tightened their grip on top spot with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over champions City.

Mohamed Salah’s magnificent run of form continued at the Etihad, with the Egyptian opening the scoring before assisting Dominik Szoboszlai for the visitors’ second in the 37th minute at the Etihad.

Curtis Jones thought he had found a third for the Reds midway through the second period but the video assistant referee rule that the midfielder was in an offside position and the goal was disallowe.

Speaking to shortly after the final whistle, Neville showere Liverpool boss Arne Slot with praise and suggested ‘questions will start to be aske’ of Arteta’s injury-hit Arsenal for falling short once again.

And not for the first time, the legendary ex-Manchester United and England right-back criticise the north London outfit for being overly dependent on set-pieces across their campaign.

‘Questions will start to be aske because, a little bit like that Leicester season when a couple of the other teams didn’t win it and you start to ask questions of those teams, “Hang on a minute, Leicester went and won it”, and it’s that type of season where you think it was up for grabs,’ Neville said.

‘Arne Slot has come in, new manager, Jurgen Klopp has left… I felt that there would be a drop-off at Liverpool, just the Klopp impact and the effect but he’s such a cool customer, Arne Slot, from day one.

‘He’s had complete control and the way he’s adapte this team, I don’t think it’s a mirror of Klopp at all, it’s very different. I like the way they play in different styles in halves, let alone from game to game.

For Arsenal, they’ve become quite rigid, they’ve become quite turgid at times to watch. This obsession with set-pieces, it was almost overtaking the whole game, exacerbate by the presence of the set-piece coach on the touchline.

‘That puts more focus on the set-pieces and I feel like the freedom has gone a little bit from them.

‘I know they’ve lost [Bukayo] Saka, [Gabriel] Jesus and [Kai] Havertz which are big blows, let’s be clear, that is a big problem for Arsenal, but I still think you have to do that job at home to West Ham.’