This week Mikel Arteta the Arsenal manager stated that he beehives his team should have won 2 Premier League titles after having scored 84 and 89 points in 2023 and 2024 finishing in 2nd spot behind Manchester City.
Coming from a manager who has won noting it is starting to sound like sour grapes trying to justify the teams results. If one puts tis into context then the same could be said about Liverpool who scored 97 points in 2018 and 92 points in 2022 and also finished 2nd. Surely if any team was going to feel aggrieved it would be Liverpool and on both of these occasions scored far more points than Arsenal did when they finished 2md.
The reality is you have to beat the team out in front and if you don't the you did not score enough points and there is no such thing as you deserve to win the title. With this type of attitude and thinking you do not stand a chance of winning anything as you need to raise your team standards and improve.
Speaking like this shows Arteta is desperate and it is looking more and more likely another title opportunity is slipping away. There just seems like a sense of entitlement coming from the Arsenal camp and with this type of attitude the pressure is only going to increase.
Yesterday they slipped up at Brighton and no doubt there will be other games where they will drop points over the remaining 18 games. The problem they have is Liverpool are 5 points clear with 2 games in hand which in theory could be 11 points. Reeling in 11 points over 18 games is not impossible, but that means you cannot slip up.
Every week that goes by with the games being ticked off that equation becomes harder and harder. All Liverpool have to do is to keep on winning and Arsenal has no chance as this is not in their control. They should be more concerned about the other teams around them who have just as much chance as Arsenal do, but you do not hear them talking about titles. Even Liverpool have not been talking about winning the League as it is too premature. All Liverpool have to do is take one game at a time even though they know they can afford to slip up 3 times over the next 20 games. If Liverpool keep the pressure on then they could win the league by March.
How many points that is required changes every season as we can se by the above stats in 1996 Manchester United won the league with 75 points and you would not think hat number would be enough these days, but it could happen again.
The same applies with relegation as I can recall teams aiming for 42 points to be considered safe and yet in 1992 49 points was not enough to save Crystal Palace. last season Crystal palace scored 49 points matching their relegation year, but finished in 10th position.
You can see why Arteta complaining saying his team deserved to win 2 Premier League titles is a load of nonsense and why with this type of thinking he will become more and more desperate every year that goes by. Nothing is guaranteed in sport and no one can predict what will happen next.
