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Gary Neville says he has ‘very little sympathy’ for Arsenal for one major reason right now
After beating Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium, the mood within the Arsenal camp must be positive.
Mikel Arteta would have been delighted by how the Gunners fought 💛until very late into their contest against Leicest😼er to win the game and also by how Mikel Merino performed as an emergency striker by scoring a surprise brace.
With Arsenal still being seven points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool in the title rꦿace, however, it looks increasingly likely that Arne Slot’s side will get over🀅 the finish line.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 25 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 60 | 24 | 36 | 60 |
| 2 |  ArsenalArsenal | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 51 | 22 | 29 | 53 |
Another concern for the North Londoners is Kai Havertz being ruled out for the season ಌwith a hamstring injury — which further lessens their chances o𒉰f winning the title this campaign.
Arsenal took the surprising decision of not signing a striker in both the summer🦩 and the winter transfer windows.
The club’s decision not to✱ do so could hamper the🥂m as both Havertz and Jesus is out injured.
- READ MORE: Paul Merson left shocked as he says something ‘unacceptable’🎉 has happened at Arsenal this week
Gary Neville says he does not feel sorry for Arsenal despite striker crisis
Gary Neville has admitted that he feels little to no sympathy towards Ar𝓡senal as they suffer a crisis up front as they always need they need to reinforce the position.
While Mikel Arteta reckons Merino is a “goal threat”, the question is how sustainable the experimen൲t to play him as a centre-forward even is.
Merino admitted to wanting to play as a striker in November and even if the Spaniard fancies himself up top, it seems unlikely that he or any other player in the Gunners’ squad can match the goalscoring numbers the likes ofཧ Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland put up this season.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the pundit made his feelings clear: “They’re going to have to come up with something. Look, I said before the game [between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United], I have got ‘very little sympathy’ for Arsenal, they knew at the start of the season thಌat they were short at centre-forward.”
“They knew thꦿat they might be…you know, if [Kai] Havertz got injured and they knew were in a position where they didn’t have the quality up top so they’ve known about it. They’ve also had two title races so they know what it’s like.”
Neville added: “So, this is not like an inexperienced team anymore, this is not an inexperienced manager and it’s not an inexperienced situation for them to be in. So, I al꧙ways say, ultimately, did you know that this could hav✨e happened before the start of the season? Yeah, could it have been foreseen? Yes, it could, we knew that Arsenal lack goals up top and a top centre-forward.”
“I’m not saying they should go and desperately buy one but they knew in the January transfer 🌞window that there was an issue there, again, they couldn’t get🐠 any business done.”
The striker Arsenal are confident about signing in the summer
Whether Arsenal live to regret their decision not to sign a centre-forward remains to be seen. But for the time being, Arsenal are confident they will sign 🎃Benjamin Sesko in the summer.
Journalist Ben Jacobs said: “Now, Chelsea also like Benjamin Sesko. The good news for Joel is that I think Arsenal are leading that race. So 🐻I can foresee a situation where everyone wants Alexander Isak.”
“He doesn’t leave Newcastle. Arsenal go for Benjamin Sesko. Player’s sold on the project. He just wanted to wait and do an extra season at Leipzig. But when he was presented with that choice between Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Sesko picked Arsenal and then made a secondary choice that he was going to stay at Leipzig. So Arsenal are quite confide🌠nt on Sesko.”
Perhaps Arsenal’s plan was always𒊎 to bring in a striker who suits their system and considering Sesko may be available in the summer, they might have accepted short-term pain in return for long-term gain in the centre-forward department.