Is there any point in even saying 'same old Arsenal'? This season appeared to be the perfect chance for Arsene Wenger to win his first league medal with Arsenal since 2004 but despite a drastic drop in quality from Chelsea and Manchester City - last year's top two - the Gunners have been unable to capitalise.
They travelled to Old Trafford today needing a win to keep the pressure on Leicester City at the top of the table but slipped up against their rivals, going down 3-2 after a brace from 18-year-old Marcus Rashford.
Unsurprisingly, everyone reacted to Arsenal's poor display with scorn, no more so than Sky pundit Graeme Souness. The teak-tough former midfielder lambasted Wenger's men for failing to show the qualities that marked Souness as such a fearsome competitor during his playing days.
“There’s a word I want to use, but I can’t use it, which describes a lack of something that ‘real’ players have. This Arsenal team lack it in abundance. They have none. I’ll stand on my head if they prove me wrong and go and win the league because that, today, was totally unacceptable. I thought that, today, they would come here, with an opportunity to put a marker on the wall, and say ‘We’re back in this race'. And they’ve come here today and been so insipid and so weak and so pussy-footed, all they’ve done today is said to the opposition, ‘This team can be rolled over’. If I was an Arsenal supporter, I’d be so angry right now. There’s so much of Arsenal to like and, in equal measures, there’s so much to dislike."
Arsenal are now in third place, five points off the top spot and three points behind Spurs in second place. If you want to hear Souness eviscerating Arsenal even more, you can watch below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f8JaWmCJe0