‘Arsenal will NOT win Premier League, Havertz not good enough’ - William Gallas

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 20 Dec 2023 17:39 GMT
• 3 min read

William Gallas believes that his former club will not win the Premier League this season, as he tips Manchester City to make it four titles in a row.

The Gunners went very close to ending their 20-year wait for a Premier League title last term but ran out of a steam in the closing weeks, allowing City to win a third league crown on the bounce.

This time around, Mikel Arteta’s men are looking even stronger and they are top of the league after 17 games, five points ahead of champions City down in fourth.

But Gallas doesn’t believe that Arsenal will be able to stay the course and win the Premier League come May.

What did Gallas say?

“As I said before, it will be difficult for Arsenal to win the Premier League,” Gallas told Lord Ping.

“They have improved from last season for sure.

“It will be a nice story if they win as the last time was 20 years ago so it will be a great story.

“I think it will be difficult, even if Man City don’t look good at the moment, they drew against Palace at home. Liverpool drew and Aston Villa are one behind, but I think they will drop off as they don’t have the squad to fight until May.

“I want to see a London team to win the Premier League, but I don’t think Arsenal will win the Premier League this season, next season they definitely will.

“This season, you have got Man City, and Liverpool, who are looking stronger this season, both competing for the title so it won’t be easy.

“I said Man City would win it but it would be very tight but most opponents know how Man City play so they are struggling at the moment,

“With Guardiola, though, I think he will do something and for that reason I still think they will win it this season.”

Gallas also commented on the disappointing start of big summer signing Kai Havertz.

Arsenal splashed out up to €75 million on Havertz from Chelsea but he has struggled so far, despite scoring four goals in the last month.

“At the beginning, I didn’t understand why Arsenal signed him,” Gallas explained.

“We were talking about players that are moving from one English club to another, Kai Havertz from Chelsea to Arsenal, normally he shouldn’t need time to adapt, like Declan Rice.

“Even though he’s scored in his last few games, I’m not convinced he’ll have a great season. What is a great season for him?

“Last season, he scored seven goals for Chelsea. This season, I don’t know how many goals he’ll score but for the price they bought him, he has to score 15 goals this season, but I don’t think he’ll score that many goals this season.”

Arsenal are next in action on Saturday at Anfield against Liverpool, who are second in the table and just one point behind.