Arsenal legend slams 'agenda' against Gunners as Premier League murmurings exposed

Arsenal have been sent a message by one of their club legends after being on the receiving end of some criticism

Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn has slammed the recent criticism directed at the Gunners over the last few weeks. Mikel Arteta and Co. are currently top of the Premier League table and have a two-point lead over second-placed Manchester City.

The Gunners will face Everton in the top flight this weekend before taking on Crystal Palace in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup, where a semi-final against Chelsea awaits if they are victorious.

Arsenal could drop to second place by the time they kick off against Everton, with Man City in Premier League action a few hours earlier against West Ham.

The Gunners won their last Premier League match 2-1 against Wolves thanks to two own goals, and Winterburn has leapt to the defence of his former club for the criticism that has been directed Arsenal's way.

"People are sort of focused on Arsenal a little bit and their set plays, particularly at the start of the season, then it drifted away a little bit," Winterburn told OLBG.

"Then there were a few murmurings the other night about own goals winning games. There seems to be a little bit of an agenda about Arsenal at the moment and everyone's picking every single game apart.

"But for as long as I've known football, it's vital to be as good at set plays as it is at open play and scoring open play goals.

"They're almost what I call a cheap goal. And if you can get plenty of them, you're going to pick up a significant amount of points."

Winterburn also explained why Arsenal should be looking to win the quadruple this season, even if it is unlikely, in order to give themselves the best chance of success.

"When they win the first trophy, and of course you want the Premier League or the Champions League, but just picking up one of those cups for me is a start, it's a journey that you start to go on and hopefully you progress," Winterburn said.

"I know a lot of supporters and pundits will say it’s only the League Cup and it's not good enough, but you have to start somewhere.

"There's no doubt in my mind, there's gonna be a lot of rotation in the League Cup. But just talking about the squad that they've got, depending on injuries, they've still got enough to push teams all the way.

"Winning it would be a start and it comes, it's the first one, it comes early in the season."