LONDON – Former Tottenham Hotspur manager and captain Tim Sherwood doesn’t believe Arsenal will finish in the top four as their midfield lacks creativity.
Sherwood, who won the Premier League title with Blackburn Rovers during the 1994/95 season, also doesn’t believe Mikel Arteta’s men are strong enough in defence, despite the Gunners beginning the season in impressive fashion against newly promoted Fulham last week.
Quoted by Metro.co.uk, Sherwood also took aim at Dani Ceballos, who is back at Arsenal on loan for a second season from Real Madrid.
“Ceballos in my opinion is average. I think he’s too weak for the Premier League and I think he’ll get found out this year,” Sherwood said.
“I think they need a little bit more guile in there. You need a player in there like Mesut Ozil in that middle of the pitch,” said the former England international.
“When teams are scared of the pace of [Buyako] Saka and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and [Alexandre] Lacazette and they want to defend deep, where’s the guile? Where’s the player who is going to open the teams up? Ozil is the man to do that.
“For me they are still short defensively. Centre backs, it’s always going to be their problem. They build from th eback which is great. Some of them can play, some of them can’t defend.”
IOL Sport