Arsenal are eight points behind the fourth-placed side with a game in hand.
Charlie Nicholas has boldly claimed that Arsenal can challenge for the Premier League’s top-two in a ‘couple of years’, which left his fellow Sky pundits bursting with laughter.
Soccer Saturday presenter, Jeff Stelling, was left ‘shocked’ by Nicholas’ statement, as he questioned how Arsenal will attract big-name players from their current situation.
Ever since Mikel Arteta walked through the doors of the Emirates Stadium, things have looked on the up, but there is still a long way to go if they are to achieve Champions League football at the end of the season.
Speaking to Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (07/03/20 at 13:50 pm), Nicholas first shared his thoughts on how Arsenal can get back to the top.
“I don’t care [how much money Aubameyang’s on],” Nicholas told Sky Sports. “Ozil is on far more than that and he didn’t have the right to earn it, at the time. When are Arsenal going to be leading from the top? To say to Aubameyang and others, ‘you can help guide, with your goals, this team back into where it should be again’.
“We’ll get defenders in and we’ll get new midfield players in. But, the actual attacking side of things, if you score me 25/30 goals every season then we have a chance of going back up to threatening the top-four and maybe even challenging the top-two. That is maybe a couple of years away.
Stelling responded: “Charlie, sorry, ‘a couple of years away?’. You think Arsenal can be challenging the top-two?
Nicholas added: “I wouldn’t be expecting Arsenal to be challenging the top-two next season.” Fellow Sky pundits, Paul Merson, Matt Le Tissier and Dion Dublin then burst into laughter.
Stelling responded: “It was the couple of years that shocked me. Spoken through red and white spectacles really. How are they going to attract the sort of quality of players they need to attract to challenge a Liverpool side, who you said were attracting big-names like Kylian Mbappe?”.
Arsenal are sitting ninth in the Premier League table, at this moment in time, and are eight points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who have played a game extra.
That extra game in hand will be played on Wednesday night when Mikel Arteta returns to Manchester City, as three points for the London club could give them that belief that they can earn Champions League football this term.
Three points also separates Arteta’s men and fifth-placed Wolves, which, at this moment, is a Champions League place because of Man City’s European ban, which they have appealed.
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