Thierry Henry explains what Mikel Arteta ‘got away with for a long time’ as Arsenal hero rates title chances
Thierry Henry questioned Arsenal’s “bravery” after defeat to Inter Milan on Wednesday and believes their title hopes will be all but over if they lose to Chelsea on Sunday.
The Gunners dominated the ball in the San Siro but clear-cut chances were hard to come by against a stubborn Inter defence, who dealt with a barrage of crosses relatively comfortably in their 1-0 victory.
It means they’ve suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season after Newcastle beat them 1-0 on Saturday and there are murmurs of a crisis for the Gunners, who sit seven points behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League.
Henry is particularly concerned by Arsenal’s away form ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge, with the Gunners only win in their last six away from the Emirates coming at Preston in the Carabao Cup.
“It just think it fits the bill because Inter were comfortable to give the ball, so were they [Arsenal] brave or did Inter just give them the ball?” Henry said on CBS Sports.
“Inter do that quite often, they did the same to Juve not that long ago but Juve came back and scored two goals and came back 4-4. They’re happy to give you the ball so were they [Arsenal] brave or Inter gave them the ball? Let’s see against Chelsea at the weekend.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, I’ll be honest with you. I actually don’t know how we’re going to go.
“I know today we were 1-0 down and we had to attack and Inter gave them the ball.
“I just don’t know how we’re going to play away from home.”
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Asked if Arsenal are Premier League title challengers, Henry replied: “Right now they’re not they’re not challenging for the league, obviously 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, and always has been, we talked about it on matchday two [after Arsenal drew with Atalanta], away from home I don’t think it was good enough. But we were getting away with it for a very long time, now we’re not any more.
“That’s what I’m saying, let’s see what’s going to happen against Chelsea.”
Asked if Arsenal will be out of the Premier League title race if they lose to Chelsea, Henry said: “I think it will be extremely difficult.
“Why? Because you have too many teams to catch. One team can have a problem, but one or two – we’re going with Liverpool and Man City – I don’t see two teams collapsing, that’s my issue.”
