Arsenal are set to face Liverpool in a potential season-defining Premier League game at the weekend and Arsenal fans have started beefing with someone not even connected to Liverpool.
Indeed, some of the Gooners on social media appear to be really angry at Liverpool Echo’s senior writer Ian Doyle.
Doyle has been a football writer for two decades and has been covering the Merseyside giants for many years. As part of his duties at the Liverpool Echo website is doing a rival watch for upcoming opponents for the club and gives his own insight into the situation of such an opponent too.
Considering the kind of a fairytale story that Arsenal are having under Mikel Arteta, fans would normally expect a Liverpool supporter to be appreciative of their performances – especially considering the two Premier League sides aren’t exactly rivals! But something completely different happened in this regard.
What did Ian Doyle write about Arsenal?
Doyle does not appear to be totally convinced over the craze around Arsenal and their fairytale story at all.
In fact, in his latest column in which he wrote about his thoughts on the gunners’ campaign, Doyle appears to indicate that they’re only at the top of the table because the other top sides are struggling.
In the column, he wrote: “Eight points clear going into the final two months of the season, it will require arguably one of the worst capitulations in Premier League history for Arsenal not to win the title. The fact is so much has gone for the Gunners this season – lack of injuries, troubles at their rivals, general officiating decisions, teams not taking them seriously, minimal pressure and expectation from the national media – that their ability to take advantage of situations that has been forged for a few years under Mikel Arteta is now bearing fruit.”
“In any normal season, they’d finish fourth. But this isn’t a normal season – and a failure to finish he job would now damage the reputation of all involved considerably. Arsenal can’t blow it now.”
More than anything else, this column was filled with digs in which Doyle appears to indicate that Arsenal rode their luck to get where they are this season. This understandably got a lot of Arsenal fans riled up, seeing how the Liverpool fan is trying to undermine their good work this season.
Doyle replies to criticism over his Arsenal assessment
The Arsenal fans on Twitter have absolutely lambasted Doyle for these disrespectful words and claimed that the Gunners are where they are mostly because of luck.
Gooners have brought the example of Liverpool to the table, stating how many times they ‘blew it’ in a Premier League title in the past – including the 2013/14 campaign. Moreover, Liverpool’s only Premier League trophy was won in the Covid-19 season when the majority of their competitors endured major issues too.
Doyle noticed all the backlash towards him from the Arsenal faithful on Twitter and posted a tweet addressing that, stating: “One thing I’ve discovered in the last 24 hours is Arsenal fans do NOT like it when you tip their team to win the league. Clearly, they are starting to wobble a bit under the pressure of the title race. Let’s hope for their sake Mikel Arteta’s players do not follow the same path.”
Fans have been even more infuriated by the latest tweet, convinced that Doyle must have a personal disliking for Arsenal and is doing it for attention. Arsenal will hope to shut up doubters like the Liverpool fan by defeating an under-pressure Merseyside club and taking one step forward to the Premier League title on Sunday.
