{"id":2582,"date":"2026-04-14T05:27:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:27:26","slug":"micah-richards-provides-damning-verdict-on-arsenal-premier-league-title-credentials-after-bournemouth-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2582","title":{"rendered":"Micah Richards provides damning verdict on Arsenal Premier League title credentials after Bournemouth loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>At a Glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.<\/li>\n<li>The result significantly dents their Premier League title hopes.<\/li>\n<li>Micah Richards has raised concerns about the Gunners\u2019 credentials moving forward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><strong>Following Arsenal\u2019s shock 2-1 defeat against AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium, Micah Richards has questioned their credentials as potential Premier League champions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Viktor Gyokeres cancelling Eli Junior Kroupi\u2019s opener out with a well-taken penalty in the 35th minute, Alex Scott\u2019s eventual winner meant the Gunners suffered their third loss in their past four outings.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Manchester City showed they mean business in the title race as they vanquished Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge \u2014 winning their third game on the trot across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>With City having made light work of Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, it seems like the momentum is swinging away from the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gunners STUNNED at home in title race! | Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth | Premier League Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TkNwTF4roZo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Micah Richards questions Arsenal\u2019s title dream after Bournemouth loss<\/h2>\n<p>Martin Zubimendi looked dejected following Bournemouth\u2019s triumph and unsurprisingly so, considering Mikel Arteta\u2019s side have well and truly let Manchester City back into the title race.<\/p>\n<p>With just six points separating both sides at the top of the table and City also having a game in hand against Crystal Palace, Arsenal\u2019s latest defeat could cost them at the end of the 2025\/2026 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Considering Arsenal have also been knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup recently, Gary Lineker wondered whether the North London side were capitulating as a whole after losing to Bournemouth as well.<\/p>\n<p>On the Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker asked Micah Richards: \u201cAre Arsenal imploding before our very own eyes?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Arsenal Drop Crucial Points &amp; Open The Door For Man City\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mUcU0pvL1yE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>While Richards felt Arsenal were not necessarily \u201cimploding\u201d per se, the pundit pinpointed that their attack looks far from convincing in particular and suggested it remains a longstanding worry, stating: \u201cI would say no because of the Sporting Lisbon result. So, they didn\u2019t, we had this conversation, didn\u2019t we? And I feel like I repeat myself all the time. Arsenal are not creating enough chances. That has been their problem for a while. And this is not reactionary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Gyokeres pinpointed Arsenal\u2019s wastefulness against Bournemouth, the former Manchester City right-back believes Arsenal are overly reliant on scoring goals from set-pieces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is what we\u2019ve been talking about, I would say for months now. Set pieces have been getting them over the line. And then when they get a set piece, they\u2019re growing to the game, they have confidence. That is one aspect of it. And I think you posed a question to me, is that going to be enough? And I\u2019ve said, well, on paper, it shouldn\u2019t be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they\u2019re getting over the line with a set pieces, and you can only go off what they\u2019re doing. And they had the massive league. So you say, yes, it\u2019s going to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Micah Richards further added how disappointing Arsenal\u2019s latest outing was, concluding: \u201cHowever, yesterday, they were very, very poor.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Arsenal\u2019s open play goals show worrying trend<\/h2>\n<p>On the opposite end of the spectrum, Arsenal have the standout defence in the league this campaign as they have conceded a mere 24 goals in 32 games.<\/p>\n<p>However, their chance creation against Bournemouth highlights why Micah Richards has placed question marks on the league leaders\u2019 inventiveness in the final third.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>STATS<\/td>\n<td>ARSENAL<\/td>\n<td>BOURNEMOUTH<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>xG<\/td>\n<td>2.54<\/td>\n<td>1.19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Open-play xG<\/td>\n<td>0.18<\/td>\n<td>1.19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Set-play xG<\/td>\n<td>1.35<\/td>\n<td>0.00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><em>All Statistics via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotmob.com\/matches\/afc-bournemouth-vs-arsenal\/2txefx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FotMob<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Arsenal accumulated an xG (Expected Goals) of a lowly 0.18 from open play against the Cherries, with 1.35 out of the total 2.54 emerging from set pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Arsenal have scored the sixth most goals from open play this season, which is a worrying trend when taking a peek at the title winners since 2017.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>SEASON<\/td>\n<td>LEADERS<\/td>\n<td>OPEN PLAY RANKING<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2017\/2018<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2018\/2019<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2019\/2020<\/td>\n<td>Liverpool<\/td>\n<td>2nd<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2020\/2021<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>2nd<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2021\/2022<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2022\/2023<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2023\/2024<\/td>\n<td>Man City<\/td>\n<td>2nd<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2024\/2025<\/td>\n<td>Liverpool<\/td>\n<td>1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2025\/2026<\/td>\n<td>Arsenal<\/td>\n<td>6th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><em>All statistics via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11095\/13524729\/arsenal-lack-creativity-from-open-play-compared-to-previous-premier-league-title-winners-but-is-it-going-to-cost-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sky Sports<\/a><\/em><\/strong>  \u2013 <em><strong>correct as of 13\/04\/2026<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mikel Arteta will be hoping that in the upcoming weeks, his side up the ante in attack as recent history shows that as things stand, they seem to lack the makings of a title-winning side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a Glance: Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday. The result significantly dents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}