Arsenal Legend Thierry Henry Questions Mikel Arteta, Makes Stinging Man Utd Comparison | OneFootball

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry admitted that Mikel Arteta “should have” won at least one piece of silverware for the Gunners in recent seasons, using Manchester United’s record in cup competitions as an unflattering point of comparison.

Arteta has steered Arsenal to three successive second-place finishes, the club’s best run of Premier League results since Henry’s goals led the north London outfit to their last top-flight title in 2003–04. The 2020 FA Cup remains the only major trophy—or final—Arsenal have reached during Arteta’s five-and-a-half-year tenure.

“'I’m not saying that I’m disappointed with Arsenal, but it’s normal that people are raising questions now about what the team is doing,” Henry conceded while on Stick to Football.

“I understand that at the very beginning [for Arteta] you arrive and it’s not your team, you need at the very least three or four transfer windows to change everything that you want to. It takes time and you have to give a manager time to be able to implement what he wants to do.

“Now, for the last three years Arsenal have been in a situation where they should have at least brought one cup in or a final.”

To underscore his point, Henry turned to the club which served as Arsenal’s chief rival during his playing career in the capital. “Manchester United have played in five finals in the last five years,” Henry sighed, “the United that everyone laughs at, whereas for Arsenal in the last three years of building, they’ve not reached a final.

“So, I do understand when people ask the question, ‘Surely you should compete for a trophy?’”

Since 2022, United twice reached the FA Cup final (winning one), lifted the 2023 Carabao Cup and lost this year’s Europa League showpiece. However, their league form has sunk to new depths. Over the same three-year period, United have amassed a total of 177 Premier League points, 70 fewer than Arsenal.