Thierry Henry: Arsenal has no excuse for not competing for the title this season

Thierry Henry has told Arsenal and Mikel Arteta that they should not be happy with a draw against Manchester City in their Premier League clash on Sunday.

Arsenal have won three out of their four Premier League matches so far this season with the only defeat coming against Liverpool at Anfield on August 31.

In the Champions League, Arteta’s side got their campaign off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory away to Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday night.

Arsenal will now turn their focus back to the Premier League this weekend as they host City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Henry believes Arsenal currently boast the strongest squad in Europe but has insists his former club should not be approaching games against title rivals with a mindset of being content with a draw.

‘Right now I will say that nobody has a team as deep as Arsenal, in terms of the quality they can have,’ Henry said during CBS Sports’ Champions League coverage.

‘Some team can give them a good run for the starting eleven, but if you look at the team itself it’s almost two teams. When you see who is on the bench tonight and you’re still missing [Martin] Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus… when you look at that the team is well-equipped to play in all competitions.

‘But now let’s all be honest, it’s a must this year to win something. It’s a must, you can’t hide.

‘Whatever it is you have to bring something, I know people will talk about the title, I do think it is going to be a battle between Liverpool and Arsenal, you can’t write off Man City yet, they’re trying new things with new players.

‘But you have to win something, if you talk about what has been done recently, finishing second never gave you a trophy, it’s great but at some point you’ve got to validate what you are doing.

‘I still believe that it is possible but this year you cannot go back and talk about injuries, which they are happening, like they are happening at other clubs also, you look at Paris Saint-Germain, they’re struggling also with injuries after international duty and a bit before.

‘But you have to bring something this year, no more excuses, you have the squad now, you have everything you need to have in order to perform.

‘As a fan, I will support the team like I always do, but at one point you’ve got to be honest, this year is a must, no more excuses.

‘If you can rotate like he did for example against Nottingham Forest and he will do it even more through the season, I’m not talking about anybody not being at the club, I’m saying this year you have to win something.

‘If I was in that dressing room I’m aiming for the title. As a fan I would want my club to win something, as a player I’m going for the title, first.

‘But when you play for the title you need to go and get it. Not playing not to lose games. If you want to beat Liverpool or Man City, you’ve got to go and get it, you cannot enter a game with, ‘let’s not lose it’. If you want to win the league, in my time, you had to get Man United, you cannot just go and say, ‘let’s see if we can draw this one’.’

When asked whether he believes that was Arsenal’s approach in their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool last month, Henry replied: ‘Not only [there], it happened so many times.

‘I’m sure you remember that game where we lost 2-0 to Aston Villa at home [in 2024]. He [Arteta] takes a striker out and puts in a holding midfielder, at that moment he thought about not losing the game, we ended up losing, [Ollie] Watkins scored, if we won that game we were ahead of Man City and who knows what would happen.

‘I’m just saying, if you want to win the league, you have to go and get it.’