Jamie Carragher says Arsenal are ‘the best team in the Premier League’ in one key aspect

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Jamie Carragher has described Arsenal as “the best team in the Premier League” from a defensive aspect.

The Premier League legend spoke on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football in wake of the Gunners’ 3-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal blew the Premier League title race wide open by getting the better of the Reds at the Emirates Stadium.

Bukayo Saka opened the scoring in the 14th minute, although a Gabriel Magalhaes own goal in first-half injury time restored parity.

Arsenal went on to retake the lead in the 67th minute through Gabriel Martinelli. Then, Leandro Trossard made sure of victory in second-half injury time.

The thing that stood out in the match – which Carragher also mentioned in the programme – was how little the Reds created in the trip to the Emirates Stadium.

“I think defensively, not just goals conceded, when you actually look at the underlying numbers, I think defensively they are the best team in the Premier League,” said Carragher.

“We saw that with what Liverpool did (on Sunday) with their xG (expected goals).”

Arsenal defence could play key role in potential Premier League title win

As per Sky Sports, Liverpool’s expected-goals total against Arsenal was just 0.37, their lowest figure of the Premier League season so far.

Back in October, Manchester City’s expected-goals total in their 1-0 loss to Arsenal was just 0.48. That was also their lowest figure of the Premier League season.

Sir Alex Ferguson once said: “Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles”. Although there have been exceptions to that rule, the gist of it rings true.

It’s not as though you can hammer every team in the league 5-3 and cruise to the title that way.

There’ll be teams that are offensively dominant and there’ll be teams that will sit deep and aim to nick a goal on the counter or from a set piece.

A tough defence should be able to see off every eventuality, and at their strongest, Arsenal’s back line is capable of shutting out the very best.

That could go a long way to defining the Premier League title’s final destination this summer.