Emmanuel Adebayor has claimed there is a lack of depth at
Arsenal, accusing the Gunners of relying too much on Alexis Sanchez and Mesut
Ozil.
Arsenal are fourth in the Premier League, trailing leaders
Chelsea by eight points, with their title hopes already looking slim again in
2016-17.
Sanchez has 14 goals and seven assists to his name in the
league this season, with Ozil having found the net five times and set up three
for team-mates
Adebayor scored 62 goals in 142 games for Arsenal from 2006
to 2009 and, speaking to the Guardian, said of the current vintage: “Arsenal
have a good team but if Sanchez gets injured I don’t know who they’ve got.
“If you look at Chelsea, when Hazard gets injured they’ve
got Willian; if Willian gets injured they can still play [Victor] Moses further
forward.
“Arsenal’s problem is that today they are just Ozil and
Sanchez. If one of them gets injured, it is a problem.”
Adebayor later played for Arsenal’s north London rivals
Tottenham, netting 42 goals in 113 appearances, but was frozen out of the
first-team squad by both Andre Villas-Boas and Mauricio Pochettino during his
time at White Hart Lane, eventually leaving in 2015 before a brief spell at
Crystal Palace in January last year.
He said of second-placed Spurs: “I’m happy for Pochettino
and how they are doing. Things didn’t work out between us but he is a great
manager and we still have a good relationship despite what people might think.
“We still keep in touch - he is a good guy and has changed
Tottenham. I don’t know whether the fans there hate me or love me but they
should remember one thing, which is that there was a time when I scored goals
for them and made them happy.”
Adebayor, whose infamous celebration in front of the Gunners
supporters after a goal for Manchester City damaged his reputation among
Arsenal fans, is now a free agent but playing for Togo in the Africa Cup of
Nations.
The 32-year-old believes he can keep going for another half-decade
and is keen to return to the Premier League.
He said: “I’m a lucky guy because I have good genes, and
this is not the first time I’ve come back after a long time out and played as
if nothing had happened. Those who know me will not be surprised, even some of
my old Tottenham team-mates.
“I had hardly played for months under Andre Villas-Boas and
then, when Tim Sherwood took over on the Monday, I started against West Ham on
the Wednesday [in a December 2013 League Cup quarter-final], was man of the match
and scored. It’s kind of normal and convinces me that I’ve got five or six
years left in me, easily.
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