Rooney warns Arsenal that they should be ‘scared’ of one Man City star after Liverpool win | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney insists Man City coming from behind to beat Liverpool on Sunday will “have been deflating” for Premier League leaders Arsenal.

The Gunners beat Sunderland 3-0 on Saturday with a professional performance as Mikel Arteta’s side opened up a nine-point gap ahead of the Citizens’ trip to Anfield.

A fantastic Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick put Liverpool 1-0 up on 74 minutes before Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland scored one each late on to give Man City all three points at Anfield.

The win closed the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and Rooney reckons Man City will be buoyed by winning at Anfield ahead of the final 13 matches of the season.

Rooney said on Match of the Day: “It’s an important one for Manchester City today. It’s a tough place to go Anfield.

“I thought Liverpool were really good second half, City were really good first half – then City have gone a goal down and dug in to get the three points.

“If they slipped nine points adrift of Arsenal it would have been very difficult for them to win the league. But the confidence and belief that will give them is huge.

“Arsenal can only focus on themselves. I’m sure they will have had an eye on the game, because if City lose, it does become difficult for them. But Arsenal just need to focus on doing their own job.

“Having been there it is very difficult to do that because the Arsenal players would have been watching that game at home and thinking Man City are slipping up here.

“It would have been deflating and you can waste a lot of energy hoping your rival are going to slip up.”

Haaland grabbed a goal and an assist against Liverpool at Anfield and Rooney reckons the confidence that will give the Man City star “will be scary for Arsenal”.

Rooney added: “I thought it was a bit of a strange performance from Erling Haaland, a performance I’ve never really seen from him.

“Normally it’s about his power and pace and being ruthless in front of goal, but he was a bit deeper today and was trying to create chances for Man City rather than score them.

“Then he creates the equaliser and scores the really high-pressure penalty which keeps them in the title race really.

“It’s his first goal at Anfield for Man City and you could see the relief in his face. The confidence that will give him now will be scary for Arsenal in the next few weeks.

“I think it’s been a confidence issue with Haaland because no matter what level you’re playing at if you’re not scoring week in week out it does get to you.