'One game away from a crisis' - Jamie Carragher's brutal verdict on Arsenal and Liverpool difference
Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher feels that the pressure has 'cranked up' for Arsenal as Arne Slot's men continue to take advantage of Manchester City's demise.
Arsenal were three points away from being Premier League champions last season. The year before that, it was only five. The one similarity between these two seasons is the team they couldn't beat: Manchester City.
Then this season, out of nowhere, Pep Guardiola's team suddenly fell into crisis. Nine defeats in 13 matches sent the world-renowned Spanish manager's team into crisis. Now, just when it was Arsenal's time to strike, there was another team who took control.
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Liverpool, under new manager Slot, became the team to chase. They have only lost once this season and, on occasions where Arsenal have had the chance to catch up, they have slipped. Carragher thinks he knows what's really happening at the Emirates.
He told Sky Sports: "I mean, I said a few days ago, I think there is a different mentality around Liverpool and Arsenal where I think Liverpool are a little bit calmer; they have won the title in the last few years.
"They've got players who won the title and there's a calmness to the manager, there's no doubt about that. We're still getting to know him in some ways.
"I think with Arsenal, I think the pressures cranked up because I think the frustration comes from the fact that they're not chasing Man City. So, because Man City have fallen away they can't actually believes it's Liverpool in that position and not themselves.
"And I think that cranks up the pressure and it feels to me that every time I watch Arsenal play they're only one game away from a crisis so it will feel like a crisis this morning on the back of what happened yesterday [draw to Aston Villa]"
"But they're still in the title race but a lot of that comes down to the fact that its' actually Liverpool they're chasing and not Manchester City."
Liverpool and Arsenal will come to terms again this season on the third-final game of the season.
If there is a serious title challenge at hand, that will be the game to sort it.