Arne Slot embarrassed Mikel Arteta during Manchester City clash, Arsenal manager has no excuses

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal’s Premier League hopes are hanging by a thread.

The Gunners slipped 11 points behind Liverpool at the weekend after suffering a defeat to West Ham in what could be a pivotal moment in their season.

The North London outfit are the Reds’ only real challengers and many now feel that the Premier League title is already heading to Anfield.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	27	19	7	1	64	26	38	64
2	ArsenalArsenal	26	15	8	3	51	23	28	53
3	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	26	14	5	7	44	33	11	47
4	Man CityManchester City	26	13	5	8	52	37	15	44

Should Arsenal fail to win the Premier League this season, Mikel Arteta will likely point to the injuries within his squad as the Gunners’ main forward line are all absent following Kai Havertz’s recent setback.

Arteta has been showing signs that the pressure is getting to him in recent weeks as the Spanish coach has often gone on about the Gunners’ fitness issues.

This is a valid excuse as their injuries have been major, however, Arne Slot has shown up the Arsenal coach’s excuses recently.

• READ MORE: Liverpool did something against Manchester City they haven’t done for 20 years – Arne Slot was the key

Arne Slot shuts down Arsenal excuses with Man City tactics

Alan Shearer described Liverpool as ‘outstanding’ at the weekend as the Reds looked very comfortable against Man City throughout their 2-0 win.

Slot surprised Pep Guardiola on the day as the Dutch coach opted for a 4-2-4 formation, rather than his usual 4-2-3-1 due to Cody Gakpo not being back to full fitness.

This meant that Liverpool went into the contest strikerless as Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai occupied the central areas, which worked really well as the Hungarian star got on the scoresheet.

Arteta has been complaining about not having his forwards available but Slot showed that there is a way around this.

Although the Spanish coach tried the Mikel Merino option, something like Leandro Trossard up top with the Euro 2024 winner and Riccardo Calafiori or Oleksandr Zinchenko on the left might work given the circumstances.

What Slot has done this season at Liverpool has been special and Arteta knows this going off his use of the word during his press conference on Tuesday.

• READ MORE: Jamie Carragher says Mo Salah will surpass Steven Gerrard’s legacy at Liverpool if he does just one more thing this season

Winning the Premier League takes something ‘special’ admits Mikel Arteta

Arsenal travel to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday knowing that dropping points will certainly end their Premier League hopes.

Arteta has admitted that the Gunners need to do something special to win it from here, which also acted as a compliment to Slot.

“If you want to win the Premier League then you’ll have to do something special,” the Gunners boss said via Fabrizio Romano. “If you want to win the Premier League with the circumstances we have, probably have to do something nobody has done in the history of the Premier League”.

Nobody expected Slot to come in after Jurgen Klopp and achieve the things he has already at Anfield as the Liverpool boss has clearly improved several players according to Jamie Carragher.

The tweak he made to his team at the weekend shows how innovative the Dutch coach can be and his willingness to take risks to get a result has slightly embarrassed Arteta.