Thierry Henry fires massive Arsenal title warning with Inter Milan loss exposing worrying Arteta trend

Thierry Henry believes Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes could end if they fail to beat Chelsea this weekend – while concerns have been raised about their Champions League loss to Inter Milan.

Arsenal fell to a second straight defeat in all competitions on Wednesday when they were beaten 1-0 by Inter at the San Siro, as Hakan Calanoglu’s penalty proved to be the difference. The Gunners had 20 shots on goal to the home team’s seven, 62.8 per cent possession, and an Expected Goals tally of 2.19 vs the Italian giants’ 1.20 but couldn’t get on the scoresheet.

After the defeat, which succeeded their 1-0 loss at Newcastle United on Saturday, Henry expressed concern about his old side’s chances of winning the league and their away form – with Mikel Arteta‘s men currently five points behind second-placed Manchester City and seven adrift of table-toppers Liverpool.

Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge, Henry said on CBS Sports: “Right now they’re not challenging for the league, obviously as you can see the results are not good enough to be able to be at the top, still a long way to go.

“But my issue, and always has been, we talked about it on matchday two [after Arsenal drew with Atalanta], away from home I don’t think it was good enough. But we were getting away with it for a very long time, now we’re not anymore. That’s what I’m saying, let’s see what’s going to happen against Chelsea.

“I think it [winning the title] will be extremely difficult. Why? Because you have too many teams to catch. One team can have a problem, but one or two – we’re going with Liverpool and Man City – I don’t see two teams collapsing, that’s my issue.”

Incidentally, former Italy striker Luca Toni was not impressed by Arsenal’s performance against Inter.

“It seems to me that Arsenal were really poor in the offensive phase. No one tried to beat the man, only [Bukayo] Saka a few times. Lots of crosses with the defence lined up, Arsenal created very little thanks to Inter’s physicality and skill in defence,” he told Prime Italy.

“Arsenal could have played for six hours and never would have scored. Arsenal were really bad, they only made simple crosses for Inter’s defenders. Inter suffered but didn’t suffer chances, (goalkeeper) [Yann] Sommer didn’t make any saves.”

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Arsenal’s cause for concern

Arsenal sit fifth in the Premier League and while they are unbeaten at the Emirates this season, their away form isn’t as strong.

They have lost two of their five matches on the road and have only scored five goals in that period. Other than at set pieces, sometimes it is hard to see where their goals are going to come from.

Henry added about the Inter loss: “It just think it fits the bill because Inter were comfortable to give the ball, so were they [Arsenal] brave or did Inter just give them the ball? Inter do that quite often, they did the same to Juve not that long ago but Juve came back and scored two goals and came back 4-4.

“They’re happy to give you the ball so were they [Arsenal] brave or Inter gave them the ball? Let’s see against Chelsea at the weekend. I don’t know what we’re going to do, I’ll be honest with you. I actually don’t know how we’re going to go.

“I know today we were 1-0 down and we had to attack and Inter gave them the ball. I just don’t know how we’re going to play away from home.”

Arsenal eye talented midfielder

The Gunners have reportedly lined up a bid to sign Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Larsson in the January transfer window.

However, Premier League rivals Tottenham and Liverpool are also keeping tabs on the 20-year-old midfielder. The north London outfit are considering a €40million (£33.3m / $43m) offer for Larsson. 

Elsewhere, Arsenal are reportedly willing to sell defender Jakub Kiwior in the January transfer window – which would be two years on from when they signed him.

The 24-year-old has found minutes hard to come by this season and now, they will reportedly listen to offers around the €20m (£16.7m / £21.4m) mark.

With the Gunners trying to sign Newcastle’s Alexander Isak – who scored the winner at St James’ Park when the two teams met last weekend – that may mean time is running out for Gabriel Jesus at the Emirates.

If Isak doesn’t stay at the Magpies for much longer, Eddie Howe’s men may target Jesus as a possible replacement.

Contrasting fortunes