Why Arsenal did not win the Premier League this season

The Gunners have been in their best form in over two decades and delivered some of the finest footballs for us.
For a team that did not even make the top four last season, Arsenal stunned everyone by remaining atop the Premier League table by February.
Their main challengers were the indomitable Manchester City, who have just proven they are in superb form by disgracing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg.
City has won four of the last five Premier League crowns, and we all wanted to see a new winner of the competition.
However, the Citizens will not give us that luxury, and it will take a miracle for them not to win the Premier League with just three games to go.
Most fans had predicted this collapse from Arsenal, but the Gunners have themselves to blame for not ending the campaign as Champions, despite starting very well.
Mikel Arteta’s initial goal was to help them to return to the top four, which he has done, but they were confident they could also win the league.
The form of their new signings played a massive role in helping Arsenal make the top four for the first time since 2017.
While their fans dreamt, some of us were sure they would not win the league, at least not ahead of City, and there are several reasons why Arteta’s men have fallen short just before the season.
Arsenal tickets holders were confident their club had the right players to make the top four when this season began and the Gunners made a very good start to the season.
However, the poor form of those around them at the top of the table made Arteta’s side believe they could achieve more than that.
The likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham have been terrible, and one thing their incompetence covered for Arsenal was a lack of squad depth.
Arteta found a first team of 11 players he could trust from the start of the season, which was amazing, but it did not mean they had enough players to win the league.
By the second half of the season, it became clear that Arsenal did not have the players to win the title on the bench.
When the likes of William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus were not available to play, there was not enough cover who could provide the same quality they deliver when they are on the pitch.
Taking a look at Manchester City, you can easily see an embarrassment of talents at Pep Guardiola’s disposal despite having done well in several competitions.
Manchester City’s bench, with the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez, can win the league for another club.
Arsenal do not have this, which is one major reason they have fallen short in their bid to end this campaign as champions.
Because Arteta spent his first few post-playing career years on the bench alongside Guardiola, it was easy for most people to believe he could realistically bring the title back to London with Arsenal.
Arteta has become one of the best coaches in Europe in this campaign, thanks to his superb performance on the bench at the Emirates.
However, he does not have enough experience to deliver the title, at least not yet, and there are moments this season which show that.
Those of us who watched the Amazon All or Nothing Arsenal last season were impressed by his man-management and inspirational personality.
This helped his players to win several games and almost won them a place inside the top four.
We are sure he has used the same approach this time, but in games against Southampton and West Ham some weeks ago, he showed his inexperience in many ways.
This is very normal for a manager who is still learning his trade, and we expect this to happen, but most people overlook the place of experience or exaggerate the amount Arteta had.
The last few weeks showed he lacked as much of that as Guardiola and it proved costly in different ways.
When Manchester City added Erling Haaland to their squad in the summer, there were many critics of the move, especially after they moved on obvious winners like Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling to make room for the Norwegian.
The striker had scored several goals for RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund, yet most people thought he was going to struggle in the Premier League, considering it has one of the best defenders in the world.
Clubs in the competition are never as generous as their counterparts in other parts of the world.
Arsenal would have won the league if these predictions came true, but the Norwegian defied the odds and shattered the Premier League goal-scoring record set by a very brilliant Mohamed Salah and continues to score goals in England with relative ease.
Adding Haaland to their squad is a big reason Manchester City will end this season ahead of Arsenal as champions. The Gunners will probably need to find their goal machine in the summer to rival the Citizens.
To win the league, you need leaders in the dressing room who can guide other players, and Arsenal lacked that in this campaign.
The Liverpool side that stopped Manchester City from winning the Premier League in 2020 had Jordan Henderson pulling the strings and inspiring the players to get the job done.
Arsenal fans would have looked at Granit Xhaka as a player that could inspire their team, but the Swiss international did not come through for them and was even a problem at some point.
Arteta must start grooming leaders in his group who will help the team challenge for the title in another campaign.
Until they have solved this problem, Arsenal will continue to struggle with mediocrity and might never come this close to winning the title again.
William Saliba has been in Arsenal’s book since 2019, when they signed him from Saint Etienne and allowed him to spend one more season with the French club.
However, when he returned in 2020, Mikel Arteta did not consider him good enough to play for the Gunners.
He subsequently went on loan to Nice and Olympique Marseille, where he earned praise as one of the best players in the league.
This was when Arteta realised he had a top player on his hand and must treat him with care if he wanted to win the league.
Saliba was given a chance at the Emirates in this campaign and the difference has been obvious as the club’s fortune improved.
The defender played with so much class when he was available and Arsenal were assured at the back.
However, after he was injured in their Europa League game against Sporting Club, things began to unravel at the Emirates.
Rob Holding stepped in and was largely responsible for the dropped points against Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton and Manchester City.
These were the games that Arsenal’s title challenge ended and it was clear that they could have won most of them if Saliba was in the squad.
The Frenchman has still not signed a new contract and Arsenal must get that sorted as soon as possible because if they lose such a huge talent in the summer, they will not challenge for the league next season.
Arsenal had a good season and surprised most of us with how long they stayed at the top of the league standings, but when Manchester City is pursuing you, you have to be perfect to escape their grip.