Henry, Carragher defend Arteta as Arsenal go nine clear
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- Arsenal sit nine points clear at the Premier League summit with a game in hand on second-placed Man City, chasing a first title since the Invincibles of 2003/04
- Thierry Henry said 'a lot of people' want 'anyone but Arsenal' to win the league, but added: 'We asked Mikel Arteta to find a way, he did. It's as simple as that'
- Arsenal's goals this season have come more than a third from set-pieces, with the club spending over £250m in the transfer window, primarily on attacking talent
- Jamie Carragher said Arteta has morphed from a Pep Guardiola philosophy to a 'Mourinho-esque' approach, calling the shift 'almost different to any manager we've seen' in the Premier League
- Henry invoked Mourinho's Chelsea in 2004/05, who won their first title 12 points ahead of Arsenal while scoring 15 fewer goals than the Gunners, as proof that pragmatic winners are eventually praised
- Arsenal boast the tightest defence of any period under Arteta but are scoring at a lower rate than in 2022/23 and 2023/24, when their open-play style drew wider praise
- Carragher predicted Arsenal 'are going to be remembered as the set-piece team' and dismissed the idea of an asterisk on a potential title as 'absolute nonsense'
Why it matters: Two former rival players publicly endorsing Arsenal's evolution undercuts the dominant narrative that Arteta's side are winning ugly in a way that disqualifies the achievement. With nine points of cushion, the tightest defence of Arteta's reign, and a summer spend north of £250m, Arsenal have converted the 'soft' label into durability — and the only people minimizing the run are neutrals who, as Henry noted, often prefer any underdog except this one.
