Thierry Henry has warned Arsenal of the threat Manchester City pose in the Premier League title race after seeing Josep Guardiola’s side do something that “never happened in the past”.
Arsenal have won eight of their 11 games this season and are comfortably at the top of the table, but City had a better performance in the final match, beating Liverpool 3-0 and closing the gap on the Gunners, who drew 2-2 with Sunderland, to four points.
Read more: Premier League clubs’ most overrated players feature Saliba and Lamence
And Henry praised the big changes Guardiola has made this season as he looks to keep pressure on leaders Arsenal.
“I was very impressed,” Henry told Betway. “I never thought he would allow the wingers to come in like they did early in the build-up.
“I didn’t think he would allow the left winger to move out to the right. Having two wingers on the same side of the ball, like we did at home against Man United, would never have happened with Pep in the past.”
“Pep found a way. He had to find a starting eleven and as you can see now, Jeremy Doku is clearly the player on the left, while the player on the right sometimes changes to[Rajan]Cherki or Savinho.
“Things will change once Phil Foden gets back into shape, but I think he is better in the right-wing No. 10 position, where he can come back with his left foot and punish.
“We are still waiting for Rodri to get back to a certain level. Nico Gonzalez played well against Liverpool, but I think he is missing a little bit.”
“Nico O’Reilly is now starting to look like the player everyone thought he would be and we’ve got some weirdos up front who can score in their sleep.”
More coverage from the arsenal on the F365
👉 Prem clubs ranked according to AFCON: Arsenal favors, Sunderland fails
👉 Arsenal plot path to Essien 2.0 as battle with Prem rivals could begin
👉 Bukayo Saka reaches ‘full agreement’ with Arsenal, leaves mega contract in ‘calculated delay’
Henry believes Manchester City are a team Arsenal “don’t want to carry on their shoulders” as they aim to win their first Premier League title since 2003.
“If you’re an Arsenal fan, that’s exactly the team you don’t want to put on your back, because they know how to win. As an Arsenal person, it wouldn’t be great to see them get back to their level,” he added. They look like a team about to hit the ground running.
“I think Pep has had to deal with two new assistants and a new way of playing. The hope while City were making that adjustment was that Arsenal could take the lead and get the points. And that’s exactly what happened. But it’s always going to be a battle.”
Meanwhile, fellow Arsenal legend Alan Smith named Mikel Arteta’s only “irreplaceable” player in his side.
Smith said: “We’ve seen Arsenal lose some key players, right?
“Martin Odegaard was probably the main one, but (Ebereshi) Eze came in and we haven’t really seen a drop-off.
“If Declan Rice were injured it would be a big loss because we would lose the midfield drive and set-piece ability which has become so important. They don’t really have a player to replace Rice.
“The defense was great, but even at the back we have (Cristian) Mosquera coming in sometimes and we also have (Piero) Hincapie, so Rice will be the biggest loss for me.”
