Former Chelsea striker and football pundit Chris Sutton has predicted Arsenal not to win the Premier League title this season.
Although the Gunners kicked off their season with a win over Leicester, there were a lot of questions asked given the 4-3 scoreline and Arsenal going behind twice at the Emirates Stadium.
For Chris Sutton, this evidence was enough to write the Gunners’ chances off. He told BBC Radio 5 Live via The Sport Review: “There is a lack of leadership. It’s the same thing every season. They’re just going to end up short like every season.”
Sutton clearly wasn’t convinced by Arsenal seeing off Chelsea to pick up the Community Shield this summer, nor was he convinced by Arsenal seeing off Chelsea to lift the FA Cup months previously.
Manchester United and Manchester City are expected to finish in the top-two this season and both got off to perfect winning starts. It will be up to Arsenal to ensure they don’t lose early ground in the title race when they face Stoke City.
As for the Leicester victory, scoring four goals is almost always a good thing. But the way that Arsenal went behind and conceded three to a Leicester team who were mostly uninspiring on the night, was anything but.
Of course, Arsenal had fair excuses. Laurent Koscielny is suspended, Mertesacker is injured, Mustafi hasn’t made it back to fitness and Gabriel is also still recovering.
Any defence in the league would likely struggle with so many players out of action.But they’ll be hoping to get their strongest squad back to prove Sutton wrong this season.