Thierry Henry interpreted Arsenal's dreadful start against Southampton as a championship warning.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was on hand at The Emirates to see his former club's disastrous start against Southampton, but he may not have been surprised.
Thierry Henry returned to The Emirates for Arsenal's crucial Premier League meeting with Southampton, although he would have wanted to hide his eyes after 15 minutes.
The legendary Frenchman sat next to another former fan favorite, Patrick Vieira, and watched in horror as home goalie Aaron Ramsdale's blunder awarded Carlos Alcaraz a goal within a minute. It quickly became worse, with Theo Walcott returning to haunt The Gunners with a clean finish to make it 2-0.
Gary Neville, commentating for Sky Sports, observed Mikel Arteta's men's frenzied temperament as Oleksandr Zinchenko convened an emergency meeting on the half-way line: "Well shock, absolute shock around this stadium," he exclaimed. "Look at him, he's calling a huddle." He would have been better served getting around his center back than calling a huddle, in my opinion.
"This is very strange - very strange." [Martin] Odegaard is speaking with him and asking what's going on. But it's all a little strange. If you're looking for symptoms of anxiety, a wobble, or stress, you're seeing it right in front of your eyes."
But Henry, a member of Arsenal's last title-winning squad during that famed undefeated season in 2003/04, appeared to see it coming. After his team blew consecutive 2-0 leads against Liverpool and West Ham, Arteta questioned their resolve before of games against Southampton and, crucially, Manchester City on April 26.
"I don't know when we last won towards City, so that's going to be a tough one," he told CBS Sports. "The last game didn't reassure me when we played them at home. From the Arsenal viewpoint view, I have been talking about emotions since the beginning of the season. You don't win a title on emotions - you win cups - because it's one game, then one game."
"38 games - you can't be too emotional about it, but you've seen recently how emotional we've been," he said, urging the players to be less worried. We were not anticipated to be there thus far. You still have hope, we're still ahead, and Man City needs to win games to catch up to us. It's still there in front of you, but remove the emotional component of the game."
His past self ignored his warning. Arsenal did, however, come back into the game before halftime, with Gabriel Martinelli volleying in after 20 minutes to cut the lead in half.
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