The Title is Done, Arteta Accepts It

    Whilst Mikel Arteta may not want to talk about the title race, his weekend lineup shows that the club have accepted that the title is over. A midfield of Zinchenko, Jorghino and Rice was something of an acceptance that Arsenal have yet again, fallen short of the mark. Arteta even gave Tierney a start, something that, in the league at least, has not happened for a while. 

    Arteta and Arsenal will now turn their attentions to the Champions League, where a Real Madrid side with a point to prove, that they are the kings of Europe, will lie in wait. Arteta can be confident, though, that his side can get through, but if one side could come back from such a thrashing, it would be Real Madrid. 

    The question on everyone’s mind is, however, why has Arteta’s side fallen short so often? Let’s go through it. In the 2022-23 season, Arsenal held first place until April 30th, with Man City overtaking them, the sides swapped places a few times over the course of the season, but ultimately, Arsenal stunted. Again, in 2023-24, a three-horse race, soon moving to a two-horse race, but yet again, Man City managed to beat Arsenal to the title by a two-point margin, unlucky for the Arsenal side. Arsenal won the same amount of games that season but lost two more than Man City which led to them losing the league, with two slip-ups leading to a failure. Finally, this season, with Liverpool looking the likely winners of the league, Arteta’s side’s slip-ups meant that whenever Liverpool slipped, Arsenal were unable to gain points. Losing to West Ham at the Emirates and drawing eleven times, four times more than Liverpool, meant that although Liverpool have been very good, they didn’t have to be.

    So, how can Mikel Arteta bring the Premier League back to the Emirates, well, the answer is quite simple. Discipline and a striker. Arteta’s side has too many times been found out as being just under the pace, and the lack of a real striker means that if they ever are, there is no goal-scoring threat to scare teams into not pushing forward too far. League-winning sides need to have the right amount of discipline to ensure that in games in which they are struggling, they can grab a goal and revitalise their team, something that Liverpool has done on more than one occasion this season.

    If Arteta can make this happen, along with buying a goal-scoring striker, then there is a big chance that the league will be theirs next season.