Charlie Adam says Arteta would be disappointed if Arsenal don’t win title, thinks Mudryk blow could be blessing in disguise and slams ‘petty’ Richarlison

In an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, former Liverpool and Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam picked through the bones of the north London derby, giving his thoughts on the Richarlison-Ramsdale incident and Arsenal missing out on Mikhailo Mudryk to London rivals Chelsea.

Arteta will be disappointed if Arsenal don’t win title

If you’re eight points clear in the Premier League at this stage of the season, in good form, scoring goals and winning football matches, you’ve got to expect to go on and win the title. But, I’ve said it before, I can never rule out Manchester City going and winning 10 games in a row. They’re more than capable of doing that, just as Arsenal are capable of losing a couple in a row.

We’re set up perfectly for a great game on Sunday at the Emirates between Arsenal and Manchester United. Two teams in great form, a great win for United at the weekend, and it’s another huge challenge for Arsenal going forward. But it’s been a case of so far, so good, for them up to this point. Every challenge they’ve faced, they’ve passed.

If they don’t win the title, then Mikel Arteta will be disappointed come the end of the season.

Gunners have ditched ‘bottlers’ tag under Arteta

It was always a tough ground to go and visit, whenever I played at the Emirates, because they were a very strong side. Granted, they weren’t winning as many trophies as they’d have liked, and if you could frustrate them early on, then the crowd would get a bit anxious. But I was at the Fulham game earlier on in the season when they went 1-0 down and eventually came back to win the game. The atmosphere was electric, in and around the stadium, both before and after the game.

This has all been built by Mikel, by the way, and the big decisions he’s made during that journey. In terms of getting rid of the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil, he’s made decisions for the better of the group, and he looks like he’s got a bunch of young lads who really want to be there.

Over the years, you’ve heard words like ‘capitulation’ and ‘bottlers’ thrown around when it comes to Arsenal, but I don’t think for a second that’s the case with this group. There’s been a shift in mindset and mentality since last season. There’s a ruthlessness about this group which hasn’t been there for a long, long time.

There’s a great bunch of hungry players there who drive each other on, and even the lads who aren’t starting week in, week out, they’re on the sidelines pushing their team-mates on. When you create a culture like that, it’s absolutely massive for your chances of success. That sort of togetherness wins you huge, huge points over the course of the season. There’s no doubt that Arsenal will need more of the same over the next few weeks, because they’ve got some really tough games coming up.

I’m always going to back Liverpool, and I’d love to see them to win the title but I think they’re just too far off the pace this year. Listen, we all like a good fairytale, and if Arsenal could beat Man City to the title, it would be great. City are still very much in the mix, but I actually think Man United are in there, too – especially after that result on Saturday.

Mudryk’s Chelsea move may be blessing in disguise for Arsenal

You’re always looking to improve your squad whenever a transfer window opens, but Arsenal are now in a place where they should only be looking to bring in players that are better than what they currently have. There’s no point in them signing players just for the sake of signing players. Mikel and Edu have been cute in terms of what and who they’ve brought into the dressing room.

I think Oleksandr Zinchenko has been a fantastic addition to that side and William Saliba has been excellent since coming back. Ben White has been excellent at right-back and they’ve been able to keep Thomas Partey fit up to this point. Mikel will be looking at players he can bring in who aren’t going to upset the current dynamics. One or two bad eggs in your group can massively affect things, so I think first and foremost it’s about what these potential signings are like off the pitch, and how they’re going to fit into this team.

I just think they should only be looking at players who are going to improve their current starting XI. Yes, they went for Mykhailo Mudryk, but he became too pricey for them. They ended up in a battle with Chelsea who are looking to spend more than everybody else in the division.

There’s so much pressure on Mudryk to deliver at Chelsea because of the position they find themselves in, but also because of that price tag. There are clear signs of a quality player in there, and what we’ve seen of him at Shakhtar tell us he has the potential to be great, but maybe Arsenal have made the right choice by allowing Chelsea to swoop in. The Premier League is a completely different beast and so it’ll be interesting to see how he adapts his game. We’ll see what he does and what he brings to Chelsea.

Sometimes you just have to admit defeat in those transfer battles and move on, and that’s what Arsenal have done. They’re in a really good place right now and they’ll look to try and strengthen, I’ve no doubt about that. But if they can’t, then they’ve got Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Jesus coming back in the next few weeks, which already puts them in a much better position coming out of this transfer window.

Richarlison should focus on getting in the Spurs team, rather than petty antics

We’ve seen this sort of behaviour from Richarlison before, when he was at Everton. That’s his personality, and at some point everyone will start to notice it. It looks like people are starting to do so now.

I think the whole thing with Aaron Ramsdale was a bit petty on his part, to be honest with you, as was the incident with Takehiro Tomiyasu while they were warming up on the touchline. The Arsenal player was trying to take a throw-in and he’s trying to get involved when it’s got nothing to do with him.

But that’s just his personality, and at some point he’s got to stop it, move on, and focus on playing well and getting into the team.

North London derby highlighted difference in quality

The form book suggested this one was never going to be a game that Arsenal were going to lose, and they showed everyone on the day just how much of a difference there is between these two sides at the moment in terms of quality. Everything is going well for them right now, and it’s taken a few years for it all to fit into place, but Mikel has got a good group of young and hungry players who want to be playing for the club.

There are still a few question marks surrounding Tottenham at the moment. Is the manager going to sign a new contract? Are they going to be able to attract the right kind of players?

I think if you look at the two North London clubs right now, they’re two completely different scenarios. At the moment, everything Arsenal touch seems to find its way into the net. I thought they were excellent on Sunday – OK, they dropped their standards a little bit in the second half, but that first-half performance was magnificent.

No player should step onto a pitch in fear of being attacked by a fan

If you look at Aaron Ramsdale and his antics, look, there’s nothing wrong with it as far as I’m concerned – it’s all above board. He has a bit of fun with it, he has a laugh and a joke with supporters and that should be the end of it – but there’s a line, and after the match on Sunday, one fan wildly crossed it. No player should step onto a pitch in fear that they might get attacked by a supporter.

That culprit will be caught, because there are so many cameras in Tottenham’s new stadium, you just wonder why he’s done what he’s done. What was he thinking?

We all like to have a bit of banter with supporters, and there’s absolutely a place for it in the game, and a level that you can go to. It’s all great fun; at least it should be… not when things like this are happening, though. It’s not the first time it’s happened to Ramsdale, either. I saw an interview he did with Crouchy [Peter Crouch] last year where he spoke about a game against Chelsea where he’s waving at a fan at the end of the game. A steward comes up to him at the end of the game and asks him why he did it. The fan had been giving him dog’s abuse for 90 minutes… why shouldn’t he be able to give some back? It’s all a bit of fun.

Listen, I’ve had plenty of verbals over the years with supporters, but I’ve never reacted to any of them – you just get on with it. The best thing you can do is to silence them by doing something on the pitch. In my case, it just spurred me on to score or set up a goal. I tried to deal with it that way. I’m lucky that I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had to worry about a supporter coming on to attack me.

My motivation has always been to go out and do something special on the pitch, and shut them up that way. I experienced it playing in the derby for Dundee against United. I was getting a bit of stick, being a local lad, playing for a club that I’d supported all my life, and every United fan knew that. So, of course, their supporters are giving you some all game, but I just thought about getting a goal in that game, and that’s what I went on to do. After that, you don’t hear anything from them.

He [Ramsdale] seems like a really good guy, he comes across really well and he’s clearly a well-loved character in that dressing room. But he’s also backing that up with his performances on the pitch. He’s a top, top goalkeeper. Obviously Jordan Pickford is England’s number one at the moment, but he’ll definitely be challenging for that spot soon.