Manchester United legend Gary Neville reckons Arsenal are “getting what they deserve” in the Premier League title race after one “strange” decision earlier in the season.
The Gunners have had a decent season but Mikel Arteta’s second-placed side have fallen away in recent weeks as an attacking injury crisis takes hold.
Arsenal lost Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz within a month of each other earlier this winter and the Gunners failed to bring in a new striker over the January transfer window.
That is now costing them with Arsenal failing to score in their last two matches, while makeshift striker Mikel Merino – who usually plays in midfield – scored the two goals to beat Leicester City in their previous fixture.
A 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham and a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest in their last two fixtures have all but ended their Premier League title challenge.
League leaders Liverpool have pulled 13 points ahead of Arteta’s men, who have a game in hand, and it would take a monumental collapse from the Reds to allow Arsenal back into the race.
Former sporting director Edu left Arsenal in November and Neville thinks the decision to allow the Brazilian to leave may have cost them in January.
Neville said on the The Overlap US: “Yeah, I think losing Edu earlier in the season was strange, I don’t know whether that hampered their recruitment drive or not. But they’ve left themselves woefully short and where I have little sympathy for them is that they’ve had two title races already.
“This is a team that’s hardened to title races. They knew when they lost William Saliba that first season that they needed to buy defenders to make sure they didn’t leave themselves in that position again – and they did that last year.
“What they’ve now done is left themselves short in the centre forward position so it’s almost as if they’re always one step behind. My view is that they’re getting what they deserve at this moment in time.
“I’ve got a lot of love for this Arsenal team. I think they’ve grown immeasurably in these last few years but they’ve become a little bit rigid in the last months.”
He added: “At the weekend [against West Ham] was a must win game and I always think it’s unforgivable in a title race if other teams are dropping points and you’re not there to put pressure on them. They’ll be so regretful of this. This is a season where, if it wasn’t Manchester City, it was supposed to be Arsenal.”