Arsenal lost top spot in the Premier League after last weekend’s defeat against Aston Villa (Picture: Getty)
Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold has questioned Arsenal’s mentality and believes the Gunners were guilty of ‘overthinking’ prior to last weekend’s defeat against Aston Villa.
Mikel Arteta’s side missed the opportunity to return to the Premier League summit following a shock 2-0 reverse, which came just hours after Liverpool had been beaten at Anfield by Crystal Palace.
Arsenal dominated the opening period and missed a series of presentable opportunities, but faded after the break and eventually succumbed to a couple of late sucker punches.
Alexander-Arnold, who made his return to first team action following an injury as a second half substitute against the Eagles, believes Arsenal may have been distracted by Liverpool’s demise and could have been guilty of taking their eye off the ball.
‘If those fixtures were reversed and we played second and Arsenal played first maybe it would’ve been a different mentality. It all comes down to mentality,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘I think our result played a part in Arsenal’s result. They have potentially got too excited and thought this is our chance, this is what we need to do.
‘Maybe they overthought things whereas if us and City both won it made them think, ‘we need to just win’ rather than it being a chance to breakaway from the pack. None of us have been in a three-horse race, so it’s difficult.’
Arsenal will hope to bounce back against Wolves at Molineux on Sunday, having also suffered a bitter Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich in midweek.
‘As an experience it wasn’t the best one,’ said Arteta at his pre-match press conference, reflecting on the last week.
‘A defeat in the league and a defeat in the Champions League but I’m fully focused on the times that we have ahead of us with six games to go. We are a game behind City and we’re going to give it a real go.
‘The context is clear. If we win we are top of the league. That’s the context, we don’t need anything else to be motivated or to go to that game with our minds clear and our purpose very, very clear.’
On the threat Wolves are likely to pose, he added: ‘Unbelievable, so good.
‘And you can tell how well they are coached, the spirit of the team, the difficulty that they create against every opponent, really good side and it will be really tough tomorrow.
‘We have prepared really good in that last two days, we had a great training session today.’
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