Piers Morgan responds after Manchester United legend Roy Keane says Arsenal lacked ‘swagger’ in draw at Old Trafford
Arsenal fan and journalist Piers Morgan agreed with Roy Keane's assessment of the Gunners' latest performance against Manchester United on Sunday, March 9. The north London side lacked a creative edge during this tie at Old Trafford, which eventually ended 1-1.
Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time before Declan Rice scored the equalizer in the 74th minute. Speaking about the Gunners' performance, Keane told Sky Sports (via SPORTbible):
"Arsenal scored seven in the week but they didn't have any swagger about them today. At the end, you're probably thinking United are going to win it, and they've been dreadful."
"I'd be looking at their mentality and thinking, 'where was it?' You must smell United are there for the taking, but they weren't streetwise. They were open and Man Utd could've won it at the end."
He added:
"They have done well and made progress over the last few years, but the next step is the hardest one. If you're Arsenal, what good is second to you? You want to be winning titles."
Agreeing with Keane, Morgan wrote on his X account:
"Keane’s right, the way we’re playing, there’s more chance of Arsenal falling out of Top4 than winning the League."
After their latest performance, Mikel Arteta and Co. are 15 points behind league-leaders Liverpool, albeit with a game in hand. If the Gunners finish second this season, they would've managed to end the campaign in this spot for the third consecutive year.
Mikel Arteta responds to title race query after Arsenal's draw with Manchester United
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is seemingly not prepared to give up on the title race following the Gunners' 1-1 draw with Manchester United. He said during the post-match press conference (via GOAL):
"I don't want to say that [the title race is over], but today, the frustration is that we haven’t won our game. We know the urgency and you’re obligated to win every single match. You won’t have any chance of doing that, I don’t think it’s the right moment to talk about that."
It was the Gunners who dominated possession (69%), managing seven more shots than Manchester United in this tie (17 and 10). However, both teams registered six shots on target.
Manchester United are now 14th in the Premier League standings and have problems of their own. They have Europa League Round-of-16 action against Real Sociedad on Thursday, March 13, to look forward to (1-1 after the first leg).
