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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Marc Mayo

Arsenal falling into old habits of Arsene Wenger era in ailing top-four push, says Mark Lawrenson

A complacent Arsenal are making the same mistakes under Mikel Arteta as they did under Arsene Wenger, Mark Lawrenson has claimed.

The former Liverpool star has given his reasons why he thinks the Gunners could miss out on fourth place to Tottenham, having preivously looked on course to qualify for the Champions League.

For Lawrenson, the defeats to Crystal Palace and Brighton showed the mental weakness that remains in the Arsenal squad - but added that Spurs are similarly vulnerable.

“Arsenal have done just what Arsenal do,” he told Off The Ball. “They have had a really good run, then we say, ‘Oh, we are going to walk fourth and make it easily’.

“Then, they lose games. Palace away, they didn’t turn up. Brighton at home at the weekend. I wouldn’t say they didn’t turn up. But they didn’t start with any fire.

“They end up getting done, but that’s what Arsenal do since coming towards the end reign of Wenger. That’s the way they were.

“They haven’t really changed. Great when they play well. Easy on the eye. But, on occasions, when they really need to fight and make it difficult for the opposition, they don’t seem to have got it. Tottenham can be like that also.”

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