Paul Scholes calls Arsenal boring; Mikel Arteta says they are ‘most exciting team in Europe’

Paul Scholes called Arsenal boring on the basis of lack of goals from their strikers this season and the number of goals they score from set-pieces.

3 min readFeb 3, 2026 04:34 PM IST

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who played in the midfield for the Gunners before making the transition to the touchline and dugout, wasn’t ready to let it pass, claiming the impression is just the opposite in other countries. (AP Photo)

The Manchester United-Arsenal rivalry has been one of the defining features of the Premier League era, and the protagonists often can’t quit even when their playing days are long over.

Another example came forth when United legend Paul Scholes called the current Gunners team boring – despite they sitting atop the Premier League with a six-point cushion with almost two-thirds of the season gone, and also topping the UEFA Champions League first stage winning all their eight fixtures – on the basis of lack of goals from their strikers this season and the number of goals they score from set-pieces.

Even if they end their 22-year title drought in the summer, it wouldn’t change Scholes’s mind.

‘If Arsenal win the league, this could be the worst team to win the league,’ Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

“If you’re thinking of picking a team of the season and picking the front four, nobody from the Arsenal team gets in that. Look at previous champions – Liverpool’s forwards, brilliant. Possibly the only one is [Bukayo] Saka, and I don’t think he’s been brilliant. He’s not scored many goals this year or assists,” the winner of 11 Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two Champion League crowns with the Red Devils argued.

He said he hears “all around Europe that we are the most exciting team in Europe – the most goals, the most clean sheets. Maybe I have different sources.”

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Asked about the disparity in views about his team at home and abroad, the Spaniard said: “I don’t know which people. You send me the names, the addresses and the email and maybe we can talk but I can’t give you a massive book of all the people.”

For the record, Arsenal have scored 46 goals and conceded 17 in 24 Premier League matches this season, with Viktor Gyokeres the top scorer with six strikes. As many as 17 of their goals have come from set-pieces, three more than any other club.

Second-placed Manchester City have scored 49 goals, conceding 23.

In the Champions League, Arsenal scored 23 goals in their eight league stage fixtures, letting in just four.

Arteta wasn’t the only Arsenal stalwart to take exception to Scholes comments, with former defender Martin Keown calling them “mischievous”.

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The winner of three Premier League titles under Arsene Wenger, Keown said all Arsenal needed was to win the crown without paying any attention to such remarks.

“You’ve got to shut that noise out. You’ve just got to go and win it, it doesn’t matter what you look like. Arsenal are better than everybody else right now, that’s all they need to be,” Keown said on talkSport, before adding a cheeky response to the comments of his rival on the pitch from all those years ago.

“I love Paul but this comment is like one of his tackles, it’s waist-high.”