Ray Parlour insists Martin Odegaard and the Arsenal squad were right to savour the moment after the weekend’s emphatic 3-1 victory over Liverpool.
With the knowledge that defeat would leave them eight points behind the league leaders, Arsenal put on an excellent showing and roared to a win which moved them to within two points of Jurgen Klopp’s title hopefuls.
After the match, Arsenal’s players celebrated with real passion and club captain Odegaard attracted plenty of criticism after he took the photographer’s camera to capture some memories of the moment himself.
The Norway international has already laughed off the negativity, and Gunners legend Parlour believes there was no other way to celebrate such an important victory.
“Of course you have [got to celebrate those moments],”he told 90min in an interview with NetBet. “You get into the hype with the fans. The fans must have been buzzing after the game, knowing they’d beaten Liverpool, who are going very well, top of the league… If you win, it certainly puts a statement out there.
“There’s a long way to go yet, but if they had lost that game, I think that’s the title race over. It’d be down to Manchester City and Liverpool.
“I can understand people saying, ‘They think they’ve won the league already’. We’ve not won the league. Man City are still the ones to beat for me, but you’ve certainly got to enjoy the moment, enjoy beating a really top side like Liverpool.
“I think you’ve got to celebrate. I celebrated until the early hours of the morning!”
On the wider performance, Parlour added: “It was brilliant. The fans played their part as well which they’ve done in the last few seasons, and the players really responded.
“They’re the sorts of days you want to be at the Emirates, when they’re winning games like that. It was a big game. I know people say, ‘They think they’ve won the league already’ over the celebrations, but if they lost that game against Liverpool, I think they’d be out of the title race. That’s why it was a bigger game for Arsenal than it probably was for Liverpool. Being at home as well, you have to put one over, especially after the FA Cup defeat.
“I was a little optimistic before the game, I said 2-1, maybe 3-1, but I didn’t expect it to pan out like that. I think they deserved it.”
With momentum now on their side, Arsenal will head to the London Stadium on Sunday for a meeting with another rival, West Ham United.
Parlour was in the stands in April 2023 when Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw in this fixture – a result which kick-started their fall from the top of the Premier League table – but he hopes to see the Gunners flex their experience to avoid falling to a similar fate this time around.
“It’s no good going away next week and losing the game,” he said. “I thought this was pivotal last year, the West Ham game. I was at the game last year at the London Stadium and Arsenal were cruising but West Ham ended getting back into it and getting a draw. Two points dropped.
“They’ve got to start as they did last year. They were dominant in the first 20, 25 minutes last year and West Ham didn’t know what hit them. I was sitting with West Ham fans saying they were going to leave if it went to 3-0, but [Thomas] Partey made a mistake and they got back into the game. They’ve got to learn from last year and see the game out and win the game.”
