‘With respect’: High profile Sky Sports pundit says he wishes Arsenal made the top four rather than Tottenham

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Jamie Carragher has suggested he would have rather Arsenal finished in last season’s Premier League top four over Tottenham.

Spurs pipped their bitter rivals to the post, thanks in no small part to a 3-0 win in the north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In the Telegraph, he said that Arsenal making the top four would have been a reward for their approach of going with young players and patience.

On the other hand, Antonio Conte is all about winning right now and he will battle it out again with Mikel Arteta this season.

Carragher gives verdict on Arsenal and Tottenham

“It was also essential Arsenal signed another left back in Oleksandr Zinchenko. Lack of cover for Keiran Tierney cost them the Champions League place last season,” he said.

“With respect to Tottenham Hotspur, I was disappointed when Arsenal did not do it last May because it would have been a fitting reward for how Arteta has gone about rebuilding the club – sticking to a plan with bold and occasionally contentious decisions which inflicted short-term pain in pursuit of long-term gain.

“There was a lot of debris to clear when Arteta took over at Arsenal, not unlike those who have been appointed at Manchester United over the last ten years.

“The clubs make for contrasting case studies in how best to recover their former standing.”

Tottenham and Arsenal are taking their own approaches to getting back to the top and it will be intriguing to see who comes out on top.

Arteta is almost doing what Mauricio Pochettino did when he first came in at Spurs, and that approach took them to the Champions League final.

Conte is going the same way as Manchester United have tried to do in some ways, getting back to the peak as quickly as possible.

It will be thrilling to see which approach works best.