Arsenal told their 'obsession' is to blame for failure to match Liverpool in title race

Gary Neville has blamed Arsenal’s doomed title challenge on an “obsession with set pieces.”

As the Gunners slipped 11 point off the pace, with leaders Liverpool almost disappearing over the horizon, the Premier League brand took a monster hit over the weekend.

Best league in the world? Only a Devon Loch-style collapse will deny the Kop a 20th crown now, while the three clubs who came up from the Championship last May are favourites to be relegated again.

Manchester United legend and Sky Sports pundit Neville fears Arsenal have missed the boat, just as the big guns were asleep at the wheel when Leicester pulled off their 5,000-1 title miracle in 2016.

In a season when defending champions Manchester City trail the Gunners by nine points with 12 games remaining, manager Mikel Arteta is in danger of wasting Arsenal’s best chance to end 21 years without planting their standard at the summit.

And Saturday’s limp 1-0 home defeat by lowly West Ham looks like the tin lid on another near-miss with the title.

On the Gary Neville Podcast, the former England defender believes the Gunners have sacrificed fluency in open play on the altar of corners and free-kicks.

He said: “Arsenal have become quite rigid, quite turgid to watch at times. This obsession with set-pieces overtaking the whole game, exacerbated by the presence of the set-piece coach (Nicolas Jover) on the touchline, puts more focus on set-pieces. And I think the freedom has gone a little bit from them.

“I know they have lost (Bukayo) Saka, (Gabriel) Jesus, and (Kai) Havertz, which are big blows and that is a big problem for Arsenal, but I still feel they have to do the job against West Ham at home.”

Arteta’s rash of injuries to key forwards, which also includes Gabriel Martinelli, has left him short of attacking options, with midfielder Mikel Merino playing as a makeshift No.9 - but it only underscores Arsenal’s failure to sign a top-class goalscorer in either of the last two windows.

Neville said: “It’s a defence but then you've got to plan for it. I know they didn't want to do business in the January transfer window - they thought there wasn't quite the value in the market or they couldn't get the player that would come in and impact them.

“But they have left themselves short, there's no doubt about that.

"The last two seasons they've gone very close and I've had a lot of admiration, but this season is more of a problem because when City weren't going to be there, the team that had to be there were Arsenal in my mind.

“It's not going to be them, it doesn't look like, and that's the big shock and surprise, and I think that'll be the one that will hit hardest in the boardroom, and (with) Mikel Arteta, and the dressing room and the players.

“Questions will start to be asked because, a little bit like that Leicester season when a couple of the teams didn't win it, you start to ask questions of those teams, saying, ‘Hang on a minute, Leicester went and won it.’ It's that type of season where it's up for grabs.”

Neville’s scathing criticism is, to an extent, dated. Arsenal were top scorers from set pieces in the Premier League with 20 goals last season, but this term they are fourth in the dead-ball charts with 10.

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