Gary Neville believes Arsenal have thrown away the title in part due to their lavish celebrations earlier in the season and not having the mindset to get the job done at the sticky end of the season.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners may see their chances of winning the Premier League win this weekend, after losing 3-0 to Brighton on Sunday.
Several football pundits believe Arsenal bottled it up – after leading the top for most of the 2022-23 season – and even Arteta accepted that the title race was over.
Former Manchester United defender Neville, 48, also said the north London side had ‘thrown away’ the trophy, blaming elements of it on the players and their actions at key moments during the season.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Neville said, “I think there’s an element to throwing away the title in terms of losing points. Look, in 2023 we no longer use the same emotional language. If this was the Kevin Keegan era this Arsenal team would be heavily criticized. You have to perform at a high performance level. The biggest moments, the most pressured environments, that’s where you have to deliver top performance.’
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal almost saw their title race come to an end with a 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Sunday
Gary Neville told Monday Night Football that it was partly due to player actions
The former defender also mentioned some of the specific moments that showed why Arsenal went too fast, without backing it up with the results needed to beat off Man City’s pursuit.
He cited victories against Aston Villa, as well as individual moments from Oleksandr Zinchenko, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey, which contributed to Arsenal’s high-profile downfall.
“The exaggerated celebration against Villa, Zinchenko after Bournemouth, you want leaders in the team to spread calmness and take away the fear,” said Neville.
“There’s an element of emotion, Xhaka at Anfield, Partey’s form is slipping, and that’s made it mentally tough for them.”
Neville added, “We never had them in the top four. I said a few weeks ago that this has been an exceptional season for Arsenal.
“The problem for some people is that it doesn’t look like a good season and they will find it difficult themselves, but I think it’s been an excellent season.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko was chosen for his reaction during the game in Bournemouth
Jamie Carragher said Arsenal’s lack of a top quality central defender had led to their downfall
Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher said Arsenal’s backline problems were a contributing factor to their season, believing Arteta’s Gunners lacked a remarkable centre-back to join the canon of celebrated Premier League defenders.
Carragher said, “Defensively it’s been a huge drop-off. When I think of Van Dijk, Vidic, Terry, Ferdinand, these figures, these great centre-backs, and when I look at Arsenal’s centre-backs, I think they don’t have any yet.’
Arsenal’s recent form has seen them lose their top spot in the Premier League – with draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, as well as Sunday’s defeat.
Neville believes this recent form is a two-month spell in which the Gunners will reflect on where they should have performed better, and not let Man City creep in.
Arsenal’s fate will be sealed with defeat next weekend, or if Manchester City beat Chelsea
“I think apart from Man City, Arsenal are more than capable of getting results in all those games,” said Neville. It was about mindset in the five to six week period.
“I think they will look at that series of games and regret it. They had a walk and they couldn’t be better positioned. They’re going to look at that and feel really down about it, thinking they passed up the opportunity of a lifetime?
“It just left them, everything left them, and they don’t have those experienced players to get them over the line.”
If Arsenal lose Saturday night’s game at Nottingham Forest, Manchester City will be crowned champions of the season. Otherwise, Man City will simply have to match The Gunners’ result when they receive Chelsea the next day.