The Arsenal debacle

Arsenal achieved its best historical moment in the first decade of the 2000s when they won the Premier League undefeated in 2004 with the remembered Invincibles team and in 2006 when they reached the UEFA Champions League final. That generation of players was the high point of Wenger’s great project that, little by little, was losing strength over the years as these players left the club and the economic investment in Arsenal was less and less due to the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

Because of that, the last decade of the Gunners has not been good at all and that is why in 2019 they decided to bet on Mikel Arteta as manager, a former Arsenal player who had worked as a coach with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. The Spaniard began a rebuild of the squad that began with releasing several players who had particular situations within the club, such as Mesut Ozil or players who had not performed well, such as Alexandre Lacazette or Shkodran Mustafi.

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In the same way, he was filling those spaces with players who were young and who were more suited to the style of play that he wanted to implement. This is how names like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes, or William Saliba began to arrive, adding quality and youth to a team that was undergoing a renewal process, although without achieving significant results for what is expected of a Big Six club in England.

For the start of the 2022-23 season, Arsenal made some important signings such as Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, players that Arteta knew from his time with the Citizens and who had assimilated a game idea similar to the one he was looking for to implement at Arsenal. The season started in an excellent way for the Gunners since they had 16 victories in the first 19 Premier League games, of which they only lost one against Manchester United.

Even going through some injury problems that affected some important players such as Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko, and Elneny, Arsenal remained firm leading the Premier League, making everybody think they were the main candidates to lift the league trophy this season. The break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup did not have a major impact on the performance of Arteta’s team, which only had a small slump in February where they suffered two defeats (one against Manchester City) and a draw in 3 games.

Despite this, Arsenal recovered and chained 7 victories in a row that had consolidated them in first place in the league, 11 points behind their closest rival, Manchester City. However, on matchday 30, the Gunners faced Liverpool. That match seemed to be heading for a victory for Arteta’s team since in the 28^th minute they were winning 2-0, although the Reds reacted and managed to tie the game in the 87^th minute with a goal from the Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino.

History would repeat itself again in the next match, against West Ham, where they started winning 2-0 and ended up drawing 2-2. Then, on matchday 32, Southampton was the rival and here the trend was partially reversed as the Saints took the lead to 3-1 but Arsenal managed to equalize with late goals from Odegaard and Saka in the 88^th and 90^th minutes, respectively. Finally, in what seemed to be the defining game of the Premier League against City, Arteta’s team fell 4-1 and this left them as leaders of the league with two points ahead although with two games more than Guardiola’s team.

The feeling that remains after these last days is that the youth of Arsenal has taken its toll on them and they have been demoralized since the draw against Liverpool. Now, the pressure falls on the Gunners since they don’t depend on themselves to win the title and this could be a monumental missed opportunity to win the trophy.

How things look at the top after an entertaining afternoon 😅 pic.twitter.com/b10ODJVQWW

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 30, 2023