Former Premier League footballer Danny Murphy has told Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that he needs to shoulder part of the blame for his team’s complacency against Watford.
It tends to be during the winter months when the Gunners’ title bid crumbles. Well, it has in recent years anyway.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all dropped points on Tuesday night, but they were not the only ones as Arsenal were stunned by Watford on their own patch.
Younes Kaboul and Troy Deeney scored inside the first 15 minutes of the game at the Emirates, and even though Alex Iwobi clawed a goal back in the second half, he was unable to inspire a comeback.
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Missing out on three points means that Arsenal are nine points adrift of Chelsea, and they have fallen to third in the standings.
The Gunners are level on 47 points with their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, while Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United sit just below them in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
With just six points separating second from sixth, it appears as though the main battle will be for top four places rather than the main prize.
Arsenal have not lifted the coveted trophy for 13 years, and they look unlikely to do so in their 14th season following Tuesday’s result against Watford.
While speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy claimed that players are acting complacent because they have no fear of discipline from Wenger, who has been in charge of the club for 20 years.
“Wenger has a responsibility to manage and prepare the team’s mentality. I’ve spoken to some very big Arsenal legends about this recently, and my general feeling is there is no fear for the manager.
“He apparently never ever digs the players out when they’ve failed. You can’t do it every week, because it just becomes a noise and that doesn’t work either, but there’s a way of doing it.”
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