We were so very, very close.
Unfortunately for us, football history only remembers the winners. I would struggle to name more than 50% of the Premier League runners-up this century.
This season will ultimately be remembered as the season Manchester City won a historical 4th league title in a row. Last season it will be remembered for them winning the treble. Us finishing second will just be a footnote. A picture of the league table in books that will be written on Man City and Pep for decades to come.
Just like in 2017 when minnows Leicester City pulled off the unthinkable, we finished 2nd and were quickly forgotten about.
To go toe to toe with Man City for 38 games takes some doing, and we were so close to winning it. So where was it nearly won?
Before considering that, it’s worth looking at what went right, because to go toe to toe with Man City to game 38 takes some doing. Where was it so nearly won?
1. A story of two signings
The biggest transfer saga of last season was Declan Rice.
Both City and Arsenal chased him, both willing to pay “over the odds”, at the time, for the England midfielder. Yet, even with the price tag of over 100 million, easily our most expensive player ever, Rice has looked worth every penny.
Had we won the league, City may have rued not putting their hands into their very deep pockets, simply to stop him from becoming an Arsenal player.
Another signing that made the difference was later and more unexpected.
David Raya would join on loan once the season had started, with his permanent move to be completed this summer.
Nobody saw the Raya move coming. It led to many fans criticising Mikel Arteta for wanting to replace Aaron Ramsdale, who had a great campaign the year before. Shouts of “get Ramsdale on” were often heard during those early days.
Arteta tried to control the narrative by highlighting that in his head we had two number ones and that Raya was not coming in to replace Ramsdale but to compete with him. He even argued that there might be a time where he substitutes his keepers during a match depending on the game situation.
As September became October and then November and, despite some errors, Raya was picked consistently and it was very clear who Artetas number 1 was.
We do not know how the season would have ended if Ramsdale maintained his place as Arteta’s first choice. What we do know is we conceded the least goals in the league, with Raya keeping the most clean sheets (despite missing 5 games).
Is is hard to argue against those goal conceded and clean sheet numbers, and Raya’s ability to play from the back gave us a new dimension few thought we needed.
Arteta clearly saw something few others did and ruthlessly made the switch. It is why he is paid the big bucks whilst the rest of us are armchair critics.
2. Results vs the “Big 6”
We haven’t lost to Man City, Man U, Spurs, Liverpool or Chelsea this season.
In those dying years of Arsene Wenger’s regime, results against our biggest rivals was long been cited as the reason for our lack of success. To have had the record we had against those 6 this season would normally have been enough to secure the league title.
It does have to be said, however, if the “Big 6” even exists anymore, considering just how much Chelsea and Manchester United have fallen – although a quick “fact check” will show that this year was the first since 2014 that Manchester United finished outside the top 6, and Chelsea did in fact finish 6th. Last season’s 12th place was only the second time since 1996 the West London side did not finish top 6.
I do remember not too long ago, media outlets putting a cross through Arsenal’s name and including Leicester City as part of the “Big 6”, so I do think it is a little early to begin writing Chelsea and Man U off, and hyping up Newcastle United and Aston Villa.
Whilst we did not lose to a traditional “Big 6” side, we did lose twice to Aston Villa, who finished 4th.
The big step forward though is our results against Man City. A 1-nil, win over the two games and 4 out of 6 points.
If we had lost to them twice, as was the case last season, then we would have been a further 11 points a drift, 13 in total and the title race would not have gone down to the final day.
3. Mentality
This Arsenal team has a stronger mentality than we have been for years.
The way we bounced back from a tough December to win 16 of the last 18 games shows a team with incredible mental strength.
After that Fulham defeat, we did not feel sorry for ourselves and think it was over. The target did not suddenly change to finishing top 4. Arteta got his troops into the right state of mind and we were close to perfect in the second half of the season.
And after the Villa game, for the rest of the run in, we looked like champions. Something that can give us hope for future seasons.
4. Line Gate
Great managers use adversity to harness the troops. The old school “no one likes us” and sticking negative stories up in the dressing room to make it us against them.
The robbery suffered away to Newcastle is, on the face of it, a big reason we did not win the league. But Arteta used the incident to galvanize his team.
Arteta and Arsenal pointed out the flaws in the PMGOL systems. The comments seemed destined to lead to a costly touchline ban for Arteta. However, the clever argument of what the word disgrace means and its relation to a Spanish word helped Arteta avoid sanctions.
His anger, the club’s support, and the feeling that everyone was against us, had a galvanizing effect on the team. Look at the results directly after that fixture to the ones before, and something changed in that moment. Arteta’s ability to spin disaster into success should be noted.
Ultimately, we were two points short – so where did we lose it?
1. Ghosts of Arsenal past
Or maybe more fittingly Unai Emery.
Having not beaten Arsenal since 2021, Aston Villa took 6 vital points off us this season. Had we won both games, we would have an opportunity to be crowned champions at Old Trafford.
Why did we lose twice against the same opponent? I’m not really sure. It is an odd one.
Emery does not have “inside information” on Arsenal. Our playing style and personnel are hugely different from the short Emery era. Nor does he hold any personal vendetta, despite his arguably harsh sacking by the club.
Hopefully this is just a quirk of football (Man City lost twice to Brentford last season) and we take full points next year.
2. Timber
“He’s going down, he’s crying tiiiiimmmmbbbeer.” And that he did, not long into the first game of the season, and not to be seen again until the closing moments of the Everton game.
We can wonder how different the season would have been had Timber not picked up his injury. The signs of his Arsenal career, as short as it was, before that moment were good.
We have had issues at left back this season, and I am sure Arteta was looking to address those with the recruitment of Timber. Instead, his injury left us with a bit of a hole.
Kiwior, Zinchencko and Tomiyasu were all used, at different levels of success. But you have to feel a fit Timber would have probably been another level.
Rice, Raya and Havertz showed Arteta’s ability to sign and integrate new players this season – Timber may well have been the same.
But we should not dwell on one injury. Man City lost both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne for chunks of the season.
3. Oil money
Man City were able to withstand key players being out due to how much they have invested in their playing squad over the last decade (both in transfer fees and wages). They have a squad which cost them close to £1bn to build (Arsenal’s is around £550m), and a wage bill close to £100m more than us.
Manchester City made near perfection the standard for winning the league. The goalposts have moved from the 90s when you could “lose 7 games and win the title”.
Our final tally of 89 points would have won us the league 75% (18/24) before the 2016/17 season but only 25% (2/8) since. The other notable difference between pre and post Pep joining in 2016 is City’s dominance.
City have now won, winning 6 out of 8 league titles since Pep came to England. They have the best manager in the world, pay the best wages, sign the best players and as a result have one of the best teams.
It is well documented, with 115 charges pending, that huge funding from overseas has created a team who are could dominate English football for the foreseeable.
With Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool Arsenal may well be the only team the can truly compete with City, and frankly it is a mark of how good a manager Arteta is that we are competing.
Our time will come; as long as justice and fair play is served and upheld. If not, then City will always have the ability to outspend and invest and the English game will suffer for it.
4. Luck
To win a league you need a bit of luck.
‘Sliding doors’ and ‘what if’ moments make football what it is. Had the ball been ruled out in Newcastle. Our West Ham. Havertz goal not been disallowed v Villa. Had Son scored that one on one. Had we beat Bayern going into the Villa game, and many other moments, then we may well have won the league.
Sometimes it goes in your favour. Sometimes it does not.
I think back to Liverpool finishing 2nd with 97 points. The ball just a millimetre behind the line in a defeat to Manchester City. That bit of luck was the difference between the two teams (and ultimately stopped Liverpool winning the league unbeaten). Likewise you think of van Nistelrooy’s missed penalty in 2003/04. A bit of luck that led to us being invincible.
I would say we did not get the rub of the green this season. As long as we keep doing what we are doing, that will change. And hopefully next year will be our year. We go again.
Jon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 