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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Samuel Meade

Laura Woods and Jamie O'Hara clash live on air over Arsenal's top four challenge

Laura Woods and Jamie O'Hara clashed on air as they disagreed on Arsenal's Champions League charge.

The Gunners, whom Woods supports, beat Watford 3-2 on Sunday afternoon to consolidate fourth spot.

Manchester United and West Ham both lost which bolsters Arsenal's hopes of returning to Europe's top table after several years away.

Last term Mikel Arteta's side finished eighth before they added the likes of Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard in the summer.

Woods and O'Hara, himself a former Tottenham player, did not see eye to eye when it came to gauging whether a top four finish would be an overachievement for Arsenal.

Woods began by stating: "It's becoming a realistic possibility that they [Arsenal] could finish in the top four and that for me would be a massive overachievement."

Will Arsenal finish in the top four? Have your say in the comments!

O'Hara replied: "Is it though? They've spent £150million. It's Arsenal Football Club, they should be there.

Woods hit back, saying: "Yes, I do think it is. Hang on a minute Jamie O'Hara. Can I just say, not so long ago you were saying 'Spurs are back. Watch out Arsenal, watch out Manchester United, watch out Leicester, Spurs are back."

"So at that time, you thought Arsenal were miles off the top four, didn't you?"

Tottenham enjoyed an initial renaissance under Antonio Conte when he arrived in November and looked as if they could claim fourth, however recent defeats against the likes of Chelsea, Southampton, Wolves and Burnley have hampered their ambitions.

Arsenal are now in pole position and O'Hara confessed that those on the red half of north London are a better side than their rivals.

"Yeah, at that moment. But in the grand scheme of things Arsenal are a better football club than Spurs and they have been historically for the last ten years," he said.

O'Hara then responded to suggestions he was changing his tune: "To say now it's an over achievement to get in the Champions League - it's not. They should be challenging for the Champions League."

Woods was also quick to reference O'Hara's pre-season predictions, in which he failed to pick Arsenal in the top four.

Arteta himself refused to be drawn on Arsenal's place in the top four, despite having several games in hand on some of the chasing pack.

He said: "I don’t like to look at the table a lot because we have games in hand, we’re going to play different fixtures and I know the objective and it’s only one, to try and improve tomorrow on what we’ve done today and go into the next match and that’s it.

"I cannot control results and I cannot predict which matches we are going to win, draw or lose, it’s impossible."

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