‘They don’t care’: Rio Ferdinand names the major difference between Arsenal and Manchester City
Arsenal and Manchester City have both made perfect starts to the Premier League season but Rio Ferdinand believes the Gunners might have an edge.
Ferdinand watched on as the Gunners came from behind to beat Chelsea at The Emirates.
It ensured Mikel Arteta’s side maintained their perfect run of results this season and once again, showed a different side to the team.
Arsenal had to battle and grind it out in this one. It was far from perfect, but in the end, Arteta’s side found a way.
And according to former England man Rio Ferdinand, Arsenal are showing something we never saw in the Pep Guardiola at Man City.
Why Arsenal are different to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City
Arsenal made a habit last year of winning tight games and simply finding a way to win. Yes, there were games in which the team dominated and scored more but in the main, this Arsenal side is built on being solid defensively.
Indeed, according to Ferdinand, it’s a trait that is serving Arsenal well.
“I just think you guys look strong. You’ve got the experience now as well. even that foul that Declan Rice did on Morgan Rogers with about 10 minutes to go, just shows you that steely understanding of game-management and when to do the big fouls and slow the game down,” Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
“You don’t have to dominate, you don’t need to look good at times but you’re always in the game.
“That’s one thing I’ve noticed with Arsenal over the last year, they don’t care about having to dominate a game of football.
“We’ve been in an era guided by Pep Guardiola and everything was about systems and dominating areas, overloads and making sure you dominate possession of the ball. Arsenal do want to do that at times but they don’t rely on that solely, they can win games in numerous different ways and that’s probably their super strength.
“They don’t just have one way to win a game, they can do it multiple ways which I think makes them a really, really hard team to prepare for.”
With Arsenal looking so strong defensively and simply not allowing shots on goal during most games, it’s making it nigh on impossible for teams to beat them.
Chelsea did do the best we’ve seen so far but even so, it never really felt like the Gunners would lose.
Over the course of the season, Arsenal will win more games than they lose by playing this way and ultimately, that means prizes.
