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Former Arsenal defender William Gallas said that Arsenal missed its chances to "kill" Liverpool during last weekend's clash at Anfield.
The game between the Premier League's top two from last season was settled by a stunning Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick, extending the Gunners' lengthy wait for a win in an away league game against Liverpool.
Arsenal hasn't won away to Liverpool in the top flight since 2012, and Gallas bemoaned his old club's failure to put an early marker down in the title race with a statement win. "I think, especially at the start of the season, if your team is ready to fight for the Premier League, to win the title, and you have the players that Arsenal have, then you should do everything you can to win that game," Gallas told Gambling Zone.
"This squad is meant to be ready to fight for the title this season. But when you play against Liverpool at the start of the season, you have a chance to send a message by beating them because they are not quite ready yet.
"They’ve got all these new players, and some of them have yet to start performing. I was surprised by Liverpool’s performance against Arsenal. Liverpool made a lot of mistakes, and Arsenal played very well. They kept the ball well, they controlled the game, but at some point if you do all those things, then you have to score a goal.
"You have to kill your opponent when you get the chance, and that didn’t happen. Instead, they let Liverpool believe that they had a chance, and they had a magic free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai. I think Arteta said that the game was always going to be decided by one of two things: a mistake or a moment of magic. And it’s true, the magic came from a Liverpool player, but why wasn’t it one of Arsenal’s?"
Gallas still believes that Arsenal could go on and win the league, but he isn't absolutely convinced, due to the quality of defending champion Liverpool.
"Mikel Arteta has got the squad he wanted," Gallas added. "He’s been given what he needs. OK, we’re still at the start of the season and maybe they need a little more time. But the only question left is if he is the manager to lift a major trophy with Arsenal? I’m not sure.
"I mean even if he does everything well, Liverpool will be a massive problem. They look very strong and they will only get better.
"If Liverpool don’t take their eye off the ball, then the only thing Arsenal can do is to match them by not making any mistakes for the rest of the season. Already, they might need to win every game from here. They can’t drop one. If Arsenal start dropping points from here, then yeah, we can decide that Arteta is the wrong man.
He’s lost points against Liverpool that they shouldn’t have lost. Every game is one where he needs to play catch-up, both home and away.
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