Manchester United legend Teddy Sheringham has accused an ‘entitled’ Arsenal of ‘getting ideas above their station’ and showing their opponents a lack of respect during their Premier League title charge.
Arsenal host United at the Emirates on Sunday having missed the chance to go nine points clear at the summit of English football last week when they were held to a goalless draw against Nottingham Forest.
While a point was enough for them to extend their lead with Manchester City and Aston Villa both beaten that weekend, there were signs of frustration at the final whistle with Declan Rice seen blasting his side’s performance as he trudged off the pitch.
Mikel Arteta’s side are chasing down what would be their first league title in 22 years but Sheringham has warned simply turning up at places like the City Ground expecting to win demonstrates an air of ‘entitlement’ the former United and Tottenham star has little time for.
‘I think Arsenal might be getting ideas above their station very quickly,’ Sheringham told Metro, speaking on behalf of BetMGM.
‘Going to Nottingham Forest where Forest have played well and they have come away with a draw, it’s not the end of the world.
‘There are a lot of performances where you go to certain places and you get overrun and you come away losing. Everyone has those games.
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‘When I was playing in that great Man United team, we would still go to places and end up losing and there wouldn’t be the uproar there has been with Arsenal this week when they have only gone and drawn a game.’
Sheringham spent four years in Manchester, scoring one of the most famous goals in the United’s history in the Treble season in 1999, and is adamant one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest sides never went into a game ‘expecting to win’.
More from Sheringham's interview with Metro
And the former England international suggests the ‘uproar’ that follows when Arsenal fail to win like against Forest last week showed a lack of respect for Sean Dyche’s side.
‘They are talking as if they are entitled to win every game now,’ Sheringham continued.
‘They think because you are a good team you are entitled to win games. But you’re not. That’s not football. That’s not the Premier League, you have to make sure that you win every game.
‘There are going to be teams they come up against that perform very, very well on the day, there are going to be teams that roll over but there will be those who give Arsenal good games.
‘And if they take their chances at the right times they are going to get a result against Arsenal.
‘That sort of entitlement, we never had that. You wouldn’t have had that come away from drawing 1-1 with Leicester or something and go, “that’s a disgrace, we should be winning”.
‘You have to respect the opposition as well and I think Arsenal need to do that after last week’s result. They had chances to win but didn’t take their chances.’
