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Football

11th Apr 2017

Chris Sutton’s new nickname for Arsenal sums up just how useless they’ve become

Spot on

Robert Redmond

Arsenal have lost in embarrassing fashion again.

The Gunners suffered a three-nil defeat away to Crystal Palace on Monday night. The result leaves them in sixth place, seven points behind Manchester City, and seriously dents their hopes of finishing in the top four.

Palace fully deserved to win, and Sam Allardyce’s side could arguably have scored more against their meek opponents.

However, there’s no escaping how poor Arsenal were, and not for the first time this season.

Consecutive 5-1 losses to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, combined with embarrassing defeats away to Chelsea, West Brom and now Palace, has left a toxic atmosphere around the club.

The pressure continues to pile on Arsene Wenger, who has yet to announce whether he will sign a new contract. While it is unclear if star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil will be at the Emirates next season.

It’s looking increasingly likely that Wenger’s tenure at the club will come to a sad end. Fan protests continue, unrest is growing and his position may become untenable.

It’s also difficult to find a football pundit to argue the case for Wenger to remain as manager. Chris Sutton has been a particularly vocal critic of Wenger in recent months, and was it again on Monday night.

The former Celtic and Blackburn striker called for Arsenal’s owners to take control of the situation and relieve Wenger of his duties.

“The biggest problem overall with Arsenal is that Arsene Wenger seems to make that decision on his future,” Sutton said on BBC Radio Five Live.

“I don’t get that. It’s up to the owners to take that decision away from him. If they’re watching tonight, they must be embarrassed by this performance. It isn’t getting better.

“It’s getting worse. They need to start smelling the coffee and seeing what Arsenal are.”

Sutton saved his most withering comment for last, giving Wenger’s team a new nickname.

The pundit said that Arsenal have gone from the ‘Invincibles’ – the team that went unbeaten during the 2003/04 Premier League season…

To the ‘Invisibles’ – a team that lost three-nil to a relegation-threatened side.

You can watch Sutton’s rant here:

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