BBC journalist calls out Arteta over ‘flawed argument’ as Liverpool truth ‘conveniently ignored’
Mikel Arteta has been taken to task over his peculiar and mathematically erroneous suggestion that Liverpool have been a tad fortunate to win the Premier League this season.
Ahead of Arsenal’s fixture away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday – which the Gunners lost 2-1 to end their last remaining hope of silverware in 2025 – their manager was at pains to argue that the Reds have merely been ‘in the right moment’ to secure the top-flight title with fewer points than his side accrued in the previous two years when they finished runners-up to Manchester City.
Many LFC supporters have inevitably been ridiculing those comments on social media over the past couple of days, and an impartial and authoritative observer has now called out the 43-year-old over his remarks about Arne Slot’s side.
Arteta taken to task over erroneous Liverpool swipe
In a column for BBC Sport reflecting on Arsenal’s Champions League exit at the hands of PSG, Phil McNulty made the valid point that the Gunners haven’t been able to seize their opportunity domestically.
He wrote: ‘In his pre-match news conference, Arteta bizarrely said: “Winning trophies is about being in the right moment in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with less points than we have in the last two seasons. With the points of the past two seasons, we have two Premier Leagues.”
‘It was a flawed argument that conveniently ignored the fact Arsenal have been in the same place at the same time as Arne Slot’s newly crowned champions this season and did not deliver.
‘Arteta’s maths also failed to take into account Liverpool could yet surpass the 89 points Arsenal achieved last season, and tally of 84 in 2022-23.’
Arteta must acknowledge that Liverpool have been better than Arsenal
McNulty is quite right – for all the mitigating factors that some have put forwards about injuries and refereeing decisions, Arsenal haven’t been good enough over the course of a full campaign to win a first Premier League title since 2004, and Liverpool took full advantage.
The Gunners went into this season with a stronger starting point than the Reds, too, having pushed Man City to the final day last time around and not experiencing the significant managerial transition which took place at Anfield nearly 12 months ago.
Also, as the journalist pointed out and we highlighted on Empire of the Kop, LFC would exceed the 89-point tally that Arteta’s side accrued in 2023/24 if they were to win their three remaining matches. Our opponents in the first of those? Yep, Arsenal!
Nobody knows about enormous points tallies still being no guarantee of a league title better than Liverpool, who had to settle for second with 97 and 92 points in two separate seasons under Jurgen Klopp. Thankfully, we’ve responsed to those setbacks by winning the top flight twice in the past six years.
If Arteta is being honest with himself, he’ll know that the Gunners are still lacking some of the essential qualities which helped the Reds to become champions in Slot’s first campaign at the helm, hence why his team will be giving the home side a guard of honour at Anfield on Sunday!
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