I take little joy in highlighting this, as Arsenal have been great this season and fun to watch, but prior to the Premier League restart following the World Cup, at a time when the Gunners were carrying all before them, I noted that they ............ did fade at the end of last season with 15 points from their final 10 games, losing to four teams who finished bottom half of the table and the Gunners will be mindful and wary of that and young squads can lose confidence as quickly as they find it and they are the youngest in the EPL by some way.  It was all a little bit of history repeating as the North London side were still 8 points clear of Manchester City (who had a game in hand) through 28 rounds, they have collected just 12 points subsequently and will not beat (they might equal) last season's final ten game finish. In that sequence they have faced five bottom nine teams and all that after averaging 2.464 points per game up to that point.

 

I don't think it is coincidence, in the first full season that Mikel Arteta was in charge of the Gunners they finished strongly, but had an older squad and used more of them, in 21/22 and 22/23 they had the youngest group of players in the EPL , but have used fewer of them season on season. That is kind of what you would expect from a top team when things are going well and given a relatively empty treatment room. However, youngsters are not usually as fit as seasoned pros and stating the obvious, less experienced too , not used to dealing with a full nine month season and the swings along the way. When things are going well, there are no limits to what young sportsmen can achieve ,as they have no idea that some things are "impossible", think a 17 year old Boris Becker winning Wimbledon , or Wilfred Benitez becoming a world boxing champion at the same age, neither should happen.  But when things turn, as they always do in life and sport (and gambling!), what was so easy becomes incredibly difficult. I do not know if Arsenal have run out of steam, or succumbed to pressure, but their finish last season cost them a Champions League place and possibly the title this season. Of course, they have made big overall improvement and they might collect an additional 15 points this season over last, but the usual suspects did not put in an appearance! Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea are going to finish some 13, 24, 30 points respectively off last season's total and as good as Manchester City have been, there is a fair chance that they will win the title with fewer points than 5 of the last 6 champions.

 

I want to talk about the EPL and whether this season was a blip in terms of the big teams underachieving (we have had them before) or the beginning of a changing of the guard, also do we now have a Big 7, or it is still 6 but with a different make up! But that is all for another day. Arsenal can take great pride from this season and have a return to Champions League football for the first time since 2016-17 to look forward to. However, it feels like they have issues to address and a little more experience would surely not go amiss, even with their youngsters a year older.

 

 

Good luck!