Graeme Souness says that Arsenal's main rivals in the Premier League title race Manchester City aren't utilising star striker Erling Haaland to the best of his ability after their 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.
After Arsenal were dealt their second league defeat of the season away at relegation-threatened Everton on Saturday, there were concerns from Gunners fans that their lead at the summit of the table could be cut to just two points with a favour from their north London rivals needed.
Subsequently, Spurs did just that as Harry Kane's strike proved the difference with the England striker becoming the Lilywhites' all-time leading goalscorer in the process.
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It was a forgettable performance from City, which will certainly encourage Arsenal fans with the two sides set to face off on February 15. Moreover, they struggled to get Haaland involved with the Norwegian already having 25 goals in the league to his name this season.
"He’s got 25 goals, if I was at Man City, I’d be saying to the manager let’s utilise him," Souness said on Super Sunday. "Let’s use him to the best of his ability.
"Right now they’re not, they’re not getting the ball in early enough. Ask any striker, as any of the strikers that played today, any striker you ever meet, what do you want? I want it quick and early.
"You hear stories about strikers complaining all the time, the ball goes wide and they make a run, the guy threatens to cross it and then they pull out. Then the centre forward comes out, he goes back in and they threaten again but he doesn’t cross it - they go mad with that.
"Haaland is the best in the world of his type of centre forward, but they’re not utilising it. They’re too busy trying to score the perfect goal - he’s scored 25 goals. At times I played in a team that was regarded as the passing team, we were accused all the time of trying - but only when we lost or drew - we were accused all the time of trying to score the perfect goal.
"If you watched Man City play, that’s the accusation you’d make against them, they’re trying to score the perfect goal all the time. When you’ve got someone with assets that Haaland has, use them - he’s got 25 goals already."
Souness' fellow pundit Jamie Carragher added to the argument, saying: "The attack hasn’t changed, the goals are still there, Haaland’s been sensational, the goals that he’s got for Manchester City.
"The problem that was massive today is how easy they are to counter attack and get at, and maybe that’s because they’ve got a fella who plays right up front, he’s not in the midfield position to stop a counter attack. It’s far easier to get at Manchester City now, as we saw today, and that’s the big problem."
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