William Gallas has slammed Arsenal for their “unacceptable” string of poor results, stating that teams with ambitions of Premier League glory simply cannot afford to drop points in the manner that the Gunners have this season.
Ahead of a crucial match against Gallas’ other former club Chelsea, the ex-Arsenal skipper laid into Mikel Arteta’s squad for being a staggering 15 points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Speaking with Prime Casino, Gallas didn’t mince his words, saying: “This has been Arsenal’s problem for years. They drop too many points against the smaller clubs in the Premier League.
“Yes, they drew to Nottingham Forest, they lost at home to West Ham, but have you seen some of the other results? Ten draws is too many for a team that wants to win the league. Premier League champions don’t draw at home to Everton and West Ham. They don’t lose to Bournemouth away.”
Gallas went on to highlights some of the issues that he sees in the squad, adding: “It’s unacceptable for a club like Arsenal to drop points like this year-after-year. Yes, we all know the Premier League is very competitive, we all know that the level has gone up across the league, but when you keep making the same mistakes, you have to question the mentality of the players.”
Despite acknowledging the setbacks posed by injuries and the impact of controversial refereeing decisions, including Arsenal’s tally of five red cards, Gallas still asserts that the team had a golden opportunity to claim the title this season.
Arsenal’s form has been a rollercoaster for the majority of the campaign, with the team throwing away a lead late on against Liverpool in October and settling for draws at Fulham, Everton, Brighton, and Aston Villa. The last month has been particularly tough for Arteta’s side too, with a crushing 1-0 loss to West Ham and disappointing 1-1 draws away at Forest and Manchester United leaving them with a steep hill to climb as they shift their focus to the Champions League.
Gallas’ criticism didn’t stop there, claiming that Arsenal are throwing away key chances to win the title. He said: “Winners don’t settle for draws or defeats, they win at all costs. Liverpool have drawn seven games but they’ve lost one.
“You’re only going to get so many chances to win the league. When the door opens, you have to walk through it. In the last three seasons, the doors opened twice, and they turned around and locked it.”It’s so annoying. It’s not because the opponent was too strong.
“It’s because Arsenal drew games, dropped points against small teams. If it was against a big club, a big team, I would say, okay, no problem. But when they take the lead and they can’t hold on to it, it’s frustrating.”
Gallas also slammed Arteta’s transfer strategy, specifically the failure to sign a top striker, which fans see as the missing piece of the puzzle at the Emirates Stadium: “Arsenal should have signed a big striker in the summer of 2023, but they didn’t. They should have signed one in the summer of 2024, but they didn’t. Top managers don’t make that same mistake two seasons running. That is completely unacceptable.”