Arsenal lack ‘special’ forward to beat Man City as Carragher predicts top six after Ten Hag sack claim

Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea will finish outside of the top six and believes Arsenal lacks a “special” forward to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title.

This weekend marks the start of the 2024–2025 season, and Manchester City will be seeking to capture five straight championships under Pep Guardiola after being the first team to win four straight English titles the previous season.

Like they did for a large portion of the previous campaign, Arsenal pushed City close and will be looking to snap their 21-year Premier League title drought.

The entirety of Jurgen Klopp’s final season at the club saw Liverpool in the mix as well. However, Arne Slot has a big job ahead of him at Anfield, and the fact that they haven’t made a summer signing worries the supporters.

Last season, Aston Villa surprised everyone by winning Champions League football under Unai Emery, while Tottenham, under new manager Ange Postecoglou, looked strong in the first half of the season before faltering and finishing fifth.

After mainly dismal seasons, Chelsea, Newcastle, and Manchester United placed sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

Carragher thinks Arsenal will finish second for the third straight year, with his previous team Liverpool coming in third and Tottenham predicted to pass Villa and secure a Champions League berth. Carragher can’t see past City again.

“I can really only see Arsenal or City,” Carragher said, elaborating on his prediction for the Premier League title, to FourFourTwo.

“I’m aware that Arsenal is in the news because they’ve come dangerously close to winning the title twice.

However, I still believe that Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, and Bernardo Silva are superior to what Arsenal has to offer.

“I believe that Arsenal is lacking one offensive player. They have Bukayo Saka, but I believe they still need someone very great to replace Man City, either Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, or Leandro Trossard.

Given that the Sky Sports analyst said earlier this week that manager Erik ten Hag would be fired sooner in the season, he doesn’t think the United owners will be satisfied with a fifth-place finish.

When asked what his season-long prediction was, Carragher responded, “What’s mine? After the November international break, Ten Hag was gone.

Carragher thinks that since the team “overperformed” in Klopp’s final season at the club, a top-four finish would be a credit to new Liverpool manager Slot.

If I’m being truly honest, I was shocked that Liverpool got so close the previous season,” he continued.

The majority of Liverpool supporters would anticipate finishing in the top four this season given the new manager’s transition into the Premier League. Nobody will likely be anticipating a title, in my opinion.

“I think Liverpool slightly outperformed last season in terms of being in the title race for so long. If you could have a title challenge like last season, and maybe a new manager comes in and adds something to what Jurgen Klopp had, but having a new manager in the Premier League is not easy.”

“It would be a great start for Arne Slot to have another season like Liverpool had last season.”