Thierry Henry makes telling seven-word Arsenal prediction as Mikel Arteta demand made
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has raised concerns over his former club's away form in the Premier League title race following their 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan. The France icon added that he feels 'it will be extremely difficult' to keep pace with Liverpool and Manchester City - should they suffer defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.
Hakan Calhanoglu's first-half penalty was enough for the Serie A giants on Wednesday night, handing the Gunners their first defeat in the new-look Champions League. The spot-kick was awarded in controversial circumstances after a loose touch struck Mikel Merino's hand while the Spaniard was off-balance.
The disappointment extended Arsenal's run to three defeats in their last six with two of the wins during that run coming against Shakhtar Donetsk in Europe and the Carabao Cup triumph over Preston North End. Henry felt that the display from the North London club was improved but was conflicted over whether Mikel Arteta's side were brave or if the Italian's were comfortable.
"I just think that it fits the bill, Inter Milan were comfortable to give the ball, were they brave? Inter does that often, they did it to Juve, they scored two but came back 4-4," he said.
"They're happy to give you the ball, were they brave or did they let them have the ball? Let's see against Chelsea. (How will it go) I don't know what we're going to do, I don't know. I know today we were 1-0 down and had to attack and Inter gave them the ball."
This weekend, Arsenal travel across the capital to Stamford Bridge as they take on a resurgent Chelsea side, who have performed well under Enzo Maresca. In recent years, it has been a happy hunting ground winning three of their last five in West London.
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Saturday's defeat to Newcastle United and a win for Liverpool cut Arsenal seven points adrift in the title race after 10 games. While there is still a long way to go in the context of the title race, Henry claimed that the Gunners have been lucky away from home for a while and if they lose to the Blues, it will be tough to claw back the deficit as he demanded a win from Arteta's side.
The Frenchman continued: "Right now they're not challenging for the league as you can see, the results are not good enough to be able to be at the top. Still a long way to go but my issue has always been away from home. I don't think it's good enough but we have been getting away with it for a long time, now we're not anymore.
"Let's see what happens against Chelsea. I don't think they will be out of the race (if Arsenal lose to Chelsea), it'll be extremely difficult because there's too many teams to catch, one team can have a problem but one, two - if we're going Manchester City and Liverpool - I don't see two teams collapsing. That's my issue."