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16th Oct 2017

Joey Barton compares Arsene Wenger to a party-goer who’s stayed out too late

Plenty of Arsenal fans will agree with this...

Simon Lloyd

Much to the annoyance of some of the club’s supporters, Arsene Wenger remains as Arsenal manager.

Having failed to secure Champions League football for this season, early signs suggest he might well struggle to guide them back into the competition during this campaign. In their eight Premier League outings so far, Arsenal have lost three games – the most recent defeat coming courtesy of Tom Cleverley’s stoppage time winner for Watford on Saturday afternoon.

Wenger might well be the most successful manager in Arsenal’s history, but with the gap between them and some of the Premier League’s other top clubs seemingly widening, many supporters can’t shake the feeling that it’s time for a change.

Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday morning, Joey Barton is a man who clearly shares this opinion, comparing Wenger to a reveller who stays too long at a party.

“I’m a huge fan of Arsene Wenger and what he’s done,” Barton explained.  “But I also believe that you can stay at a party for too long sometimes.

“Sometimes it’s nice to get off at 12 o’clock, but it’s about 4am now he’s staggering around absolutely blathered at this party and he’s just waiting for someone to eject him which will only be matter of time, I think.”

Arsenal’s next game is away to Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League – a competition which might prove to be their best chance of a return to the Champions League, as was the case for Manchester United last season. After that, they return to domestic action with a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton, another club to have made a disappointing start to the season.