Thierry Henry has said a lot of neutrals want “anyone but Arsenal” to win the Premier League as he defended his former side’s style of play under Mikel Arteta on Monday Night Football.
The former Arsenal captain, top scorer in the Invincibles side which last lifted the Premier League trophy in 2003/04, said Arteta had been "asked to find a way, and he has" with the Gunners now nine points clear at the top of the table, having played a game more than second-placed Man City.
Arsenal's style has been criticised largely owing to their reliance on set-pieces - which have contributed to more than a third of their goals this season - despite a transfer spend of more than £250m this season, primarily on attacking talent.
Henry appeared puzzle surprised by the lack of support for Arsenal from neutrals in their quest to end a 22-year wait for the title up against Pep Guardiola's City, winners in six of the last eight seasons.
"A lot of people are like 'anyone but Arsenal to win the league'," Henry said on Sky Sports. "I wanted Liverpool to win the league when I was playing because I wanted Jamie [Carragher] and Stevie G to win the league.
"Whether I like Liverpool or not, you root normally for the underdog, for the team that could not do it or failed. But for some reason, a lot of people don't want Arsenal to win the league."
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher added: "It is very strange. Liverpool and Man Utd fans, even though City are the local rivals for United and Liverpool have been fighting City for titles, they are almost looking and thinking I'd rather City win it.
"There is something about Arsenal and the way they have gone about it, whether you like it or not.
"Whether it is the style of football, Arteta on the side of the pitch, what Fabian Hurzeler was saying. Maybe it is the fanbase on social media, which gets a bit of criticism, that maybe rubs people up the wrong way."
'Nonsense' - Carra and Henry respond to Arsenal criticism
In his defence of Arteta's approach, Henry stopped short of saying he was a fan of the football Arsenal play. He says his feelings on the matter are irrelevant as the Gunners seek to end their title drought.
"I don't have to like it as an Arsenal fan, but I surely respect it," Henry said. "After 22 years, I'm not saying that we're going to win the league but no matter how they're going to do it, I'm going to respect it.
"It doesn't matter what I like, it doesn't matter what my mum likes or my dad likes. We asked Mikel Arteta to find a way, he did. It's as simple as that. I want to win the league, it's been 22 years.
"For a very long time, Arsenal have been accused of being boys. Not being able to keep a lead, getting bullied. Can they win ugly? That's exactly what the team is doing, and mastering that.
"Along the way, have they lost what they were about when Mikel Arteta arrived? Sometimes in the game when you try to do something to evolve from Pep, evolve from Slot, you can forget what you were a bit. Three years ago people were talking about what good football Arsenal played, but with those accusations I mentioned.
"Now that they are doing it, people are not happy about it."
Carragher added: "Some of the nonsense that has been spoken about Arsenal from other people in the game about an asterisk being by their name if they win the league or 'I won't recognise them if they win the league' is absolute nonsense.
"There is no right or way to play football. It is about being the best at what you do. Right now, whether you like it or not as an Arsenal supporter, they are going to be remembered as the set piece team."
This season, Arsenal have the tightest defence of any period during Arteta's reign but are scoring at a lower rate than during 2022/23 and 2023/24, when they were more widely praised for their style of football - and were less reliant on set-piece goals.
Henry questioned whether the Gunners were still too closely associated to the Arsene Wenger era almost a decade on from his retirement, given they had twice won the First Division under predecessor George Graham while being dogged by accusations of dull football.
He said: "What is the Arsenal way? My way? George Graham? What is it? If you think about how the '1-0 to the Arsenal' came about, that's closer to Graham than what we were playing, but how Arsenal were playing was closer to us and what Arsene was trying to do. But Arsenal won under Graham and Wenger. What's the issue here?"
Henry pointed to his own experience of coming up against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, who were also criticised for their pragmatic style when lifting their first Premier League trophy, 12 points ahead of the Gunners, in 20024/05.
Arsenal scored 15 goals more than the Blues in that season but conceded more than double Mourinho's side, who ended Man Utd and Arsenal's title monopoly which had stretched back to 1996.
"Frank Lampard finished that season as their top goalscorer with 13 goals," Henry said. "They were very difficult to beat, outstanding on the break. Everyone praised Mourinho and Chelsea, and rightly so. They found a way to stop the duo.
"So well done. Whether you like Chelsea or not, well done."
Carra: Arteta 'almost different to any manager we've seen'
Jamie Carragher was similarly unbothered by Arsenal's style and instead singled out Arteta for his flexibility in pivoting from following former boss Pep Guardiola's style of play to what he has termed a more "Mourinho-esque" approach - a sea change in philosophy he feels has never been seen by a Premier League title winner before.
"It's almost different to any manager we've seen, certainly in terms of the Premier League," he told Monday Night Football. "What you've got when he comes in in 2019 is that it's mid-way through a season, Arsenal win the FA Cup and get some big scalps, it's not a great team but they finish eighth.
"A couple of years later they finish fifth and you feel the fans are really behind him. I remember the last game of the season where there was this feel-good factor that they were going somewhere.
"There's then the two seconds after that, and that's where I think there is the shift. When Arteta first came in, we put him in a box. We said he's a Pep Guardiola coach and he'll play that football at Arsenal. With other managers, you know what Klopp is from day one. We knew what Pep was from day one.
"The season where they finished fifth and then second, the football was fantastic. But from last season, he's morphed from one style into almost a Mourinho-style. I've been calling Arsenal and Arteta that for a couple of years, but not as a criticism.
"Mourinho and Guardiola are two of the most successful managers of the last 20 years. They have different ways of going about it, but the fascinating thing about Arteta is he's started with one and morphed into the other. You don't normally see that.
"That first season they finished second, they went to Man City and got beaten up and it cost them the league. Ever since then, every signing they've made has been a physical profile. That wasn't the case when he first came to the club. It's about power and strength."
