Arteta warned about Arsenal failure as Carragher issues Premier League ultimatum

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has sent Arsenal a brutal Premier League title warning ahead as the Gunners look to fend off Man City's challenge at the top

Jamie Carragher has warned Mikel Arteta and Arsenal that failing to win this year's Premier League title will haunt them for years to come. The Gunners have dominated the league for most of the season and have been widely tipped to claim the trophy when the campaign concludes.

Arteta's men were on course for an extraordinary quadruple, but endured a disastrous fortnight. They lost the Carabao Cup Final to title challengers Manchester City, before crashing out of the FA Cup at the hands of Championship outfit Southampton.

The loss to the Saints proved the shock result of the round, with many now questioning the Gunners' credentials as champions-elect. Arsenal bounced back with a 1-0 victory over Sporting in the Champions League midweek, maintaining their ambitions of securing a domestic and European double.

Yet Carragher believes anything short of the Premier League trophy would represent a 'choke' from the Gunners. Speaking to CBS ahead of the win over Sporting, Carragher said: "I think tonight is absolutely massive. It's nothing to do with playing Sporting in the first leg of Champions League.

"I'm 99 per cent certain they'll go through in the game. I almost feel tonight, they need to send a message out to everybody.

"The two competitions that they're out of, they're in the Champions League and the next game is the league, so the four competitions they were going for and we're in the middle of that in a four game run.

"They're in a position now, where I think, if Arsenal don't win the league this season, especially the Premier League, this will be remembered for an awfully long time. It's not just coming second to [Manchester] City three years ago or two years ago when people expected that.

"Arsenal have got the best squad, I think they've got the best team. If they don't get over the line now, it will be described as a choke. They will have choked basically in the run in."

Arsenal welcome Bournemouth to the Emirates in the lunchtime kick-off this Saturday, sitting pretty with a nine-point cushion over second-placed Manchester City. However, Pep Guardiola's men still have a game in hand on the Gunners, and face a challenging away fixture at Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.