The Gunners’ tank was empty in the middle of the Premier League’s decision rounds, writes Janne Palomäki.
Gabriel Jesus (left) covers his face. Arsenal will not win the Premier League title. PDO
Arsenal’s great season practically ended with Saturday’s away loss to Nottingham Forest.
Taiwo Awoniyi’s strike sealed Manchester City’s third successive Premier League title and the crushing of the Gunners’ title hopes.
Of course, the decline started much earlier. Arsenal have won just two of their last eight league games. Coincidence or not, the team’s best defender William Saliba has been injured on the sidelines for the last ten rounds.
You can take solace in the statistics. Whenever a team has lost an eight-point lead in the Premier League, it has won the championship the following season.
With Arsenal, it’s just really hard to believe.
The 2022-23 season will go down in history because of the extraordinary rumblings of both Chelsea and Liverpool. Manchester United is returning to the top level, and surely City will not give the same lead as at the beginning of this season.
It seemed that Pep Guardiola’s poppoo didn’t take the league seriously until after the mandatory break of the World Cup in Qatar.
The story continues after the picture
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had too much faith in the regular player. PDO
Arsenal collected 50 points from the first half of the Premier League. It has now received 31 from the latter, with the last home game against Wolves remaining. The gunners’ tank was empty at the most important moment of the season.
Manager Mikel Arteta could have distributed playing minutes to a wider circle. Bukayo Saka played practically every match. The strain was simply too muchbecause he already went through the entire 38-round league last season.
Saliba’s injury coincided with the loss of midfield anchor Thomas Partey’s game. Arteta stubbornly kept the Ghanaian on the pitch.
Perhaps it was a twist of fate that the Forest attack that crushed the championship dreams was started by a stray pass by Arsenal’s best player, Martin Ödegaard.
Arsenal’s player material was simply far too narrow. When the club won the Premier League championship last time, there was a world star like Sylvain Wiltord who won the European Championship gold on the bench.
In January, Arteta signed Leandro Trossardi, who was fired from Brighton, as a replacement for top brass Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli.
Without disparaging any Belgian, it can be said that he is not quite at the level of the City reserves. Guardiola has used in the last matches world champion Julián Álvarez and England national team star Phil Foden as substitutes.
The difference is significant. And it cost Arsenal the title.