Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher has insisted that Erling Haaland wouldn’t have been able to keep Arsenal in the Premier League title race this season. The Gunners ended the weekend 15 points behind table toppers Liverpool after being held to a 1-1 draw by Manchester United.
Arsenal have faltered in front of goal this season and failed to find the back of the net in back-to-back top-flight matches against West Ham and Nottingham Forest ahead of their trip to Old Trafford. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has been forced to play Mikel Merino as a centre-forward in recent weeks after Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus were ruled out of action until the summer. But Carragher doesn’t think Arsenal would do any better even if Haaland was leading the line.
“We keep talking about, again I keep going back to people saying they need a No. 9,” Carragher explained as he analysed Arsenal’s woes in front of goal during Monday Night Football on Sky Sports.
“If Arsenal would have had a No. 9, let’s say Erling Haaland was playing centre-forward for Arsenal this season or in the last few games, would they have scored more goals?
“Of course they would because he’s a top striker and a great finisher. But on the basis of those three games I’ve shown you [on the screen], the best chances they had, Erling Haaland doesn’t make any difference, he does not.”
“Why was he so agitated when Patrick [Davison] asked him that question about the striker?” Neville said. “Normally when you see a manager act like that… he seemed to walk off.
“Usually if you see a manager walk off from an interview when he's been asked a question, you normally think there is something getting to them.
“Is he sick of being asked that question? Does he think that's too simple an answer that he doesn't have a striker?
“The fact of the matter is it will still continue to be asked. The reason is because there are hundreds of thousands of Arsenal fans who for many months and years now have said, 'We need a striker.’”