Mikel Arteta has made another bizarre claim, proven to be false, while attempting to denigrate Liverpool’s Premier League title triumph.
Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were the second team for a lot of football lovers as their free-flowing style of play endeared them to neutrals.
The current Gunners set up couldn’t be further from that, with conservative tactics and a manager exhibiting a strange sense of self-regard despite winning just one FA Cup in over five years at the club.
This campaign, they were expected to kick on and win the league in Man City‘s absence, but Liverpool have instead taken on the mantle as the country’s best, something Arteta seems to be in denial about.
“We are going to try and do it this season but winning trophies is about being in the right moment in the right place,” the Arsenal manager said ahead of their Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta compares points after 38 games to 34 games
“Liverpool have won the title with less points than we have in the last two seasons. So for the past two seasons we have two Premier League [titles].
“You have to be in the right moment in the right place. Hopefully we will be in the right place in the right moment in Paris tomorrow and earn that right to be in the final.”
What Arteta has claimed there is untrue.
Liverpool have 82 points after 35 games this season, having already wrapped up the title. They could finish on 91 points.
In 2022/23, Arsenal had 81 points after 35 matches and finished on 84 points.
In 2023/24 Arsenal had 80 points after 35 games and reached a total of 89 points.
Myth debunked.
It seems ironic of him to make this claim to Liverpool supporters also, given Reds know all too well the pain of coming second with an incredible points haul.
In 2018/19, Jurgen Klopp‘s side managed 97 points, one fewer than Man City, while winning the Champions League.
In 2021/22, Liverpool reached 92 points, one fewer than Man City, while going agonisingly close to a quadruple.
While the Arsenal boss isn’t proving to be the best of losers, he has given Liverpool credit for their victory, saying last week: “I understand that it’s a team who have been more consistent, they’ve had the ingredients to win it and it’s been painful.
“I want to congratulate Liverpool and what they’ve done, the manner they’ve done it and how consistent they’ve been, and I think they fully deserved to win it.
“They’ve been the better team, had the better attributes, had their squad available consistently and we are going to try again.
“They’ve had this distraction [with Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s contracts] but they still had them on the pitch the whole time which is positive.
“They are a club who over the last 10 years have been fighting for trophies, winning big trophies like the Champions League. They are deserved champions.”
The guard of honour on Sunday, when the Gunners visit the champions, will certainly taste extra sweet for Liverpool supporters.
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