Losing the EPL title on the Final day – Why it’s happening and what can Arsenal do about it?

It won’t happen this year unfortunately. I knew it after the Villa game, but I got sucked in again. I thought maybe Spurs could do us a favour and, credit to them, they played better than I expected them to. But I should know better myself. We shouldn’t rely on others to do our job,

I was just so desperate to see us win it. I had to wait a few days for the disappointment to sink in, the reality is we should look at ourselves.

One point against Fulham. That corner Zinny gave away for their equaliser with 10 man. Playing Thomas Partey at RB, with Gabriel on the bench. Jorginho gifting Spurs a draw at the Emirates. The Kai Havertz experiment in midfield, which let’s be honest didn’t work. And we tried it against Villa which ultimately cost us, because that was the only moment it was really in our own hands. West Ham at home missing chances and conceding poor goals. Even the draw at Anfield, we took the lead, then we fell into the emotion of the game.

Some people will call me harsh or negative, but against this Man City side, a draw is like a defeat. If we want to lift the title, we need to dissect every single mistake that has cost us or could’ve cost us and prevent it from repeating as soon as possible. Back when I started watching the PL a season like ours with 89 points potentially would’ve been good enough.

And I do understand in a lot of ways we’re at a disadvantage to City. Just their wage bill for last year is almost equal to our entire turnover. They have the best manager, the best players and the experience. Yet that was the case with Ferguson back in the day, but Wenger came and produced teams that beat him, won doubles. Mourinho came and overtook us and United. It’s possible, we didn’t come this close by looking for excuses, we kept trying to improve.

Honestly this season hurts more. Last year we kind of took the league by storm, this season especially after Christmas we’ve been a monster. We’ve dropped 5 points. What we ultimately have to do to win it is combine the start of last year with the finish of this one and finish in the 90+ points. Something we’ve only done once in our history with the Invincibles who had exactly 90.

And you wonder what might’ve been if we had actually beaten Bayern in the first leg, because I do believe our mood was really hurt by that game and that affected the Villa home game. Don Unai doing the double over us, when we binned him, doing us in the EL in the past as well. I am really hurt, because it feels like we haven’t learned some lessons still. I know the task is difficult, but we must elevate our way of thinking if we want to win it. You can actually look at Spurs for this. Their entire existence is focused on what Arsenal are doing, it’s why they never win anything. I actually respect big Ange for being a winner and trying to look at the bigger picture. It’s just funny how you see Mourinho, then Conte and now Ange talking about what the foundations at Spurs are.

We’ve been there ironically. We used to be a club happy to make the numbers with a top 4 finish. To win the title we now need to look at the striker department. City won the title without an out and out striker, yet still bought Haaland to elevate themselves. Let’s go big and get Gyokores or Isak. Frankie De Jong in midfield would be a welcome edition. Saka needs competition on the wing. On the other side Martinelli fell off a cliff, maybe we need an upgrade there.

One thing we lack to City is players who can take games by the scruff of the neck and win them by themselves. Someone to request the ball at his feet and produce a magic moment. I know it won’t happen, but an Mbappe signing for example. This would really tell City we want the crown you are wearing and we’re willing to cut your head off to take it. We just can’t rely on other teams. Arsenal is one of the most hated clubs in this country from pundits to fans. There are a lot of London clubs – none of them want us to succeed. West Ham will not do us a favour on the final day. I’ve seen Moyes put hate comments towards Arsenal long enough. Besides he’s leaving, the players are on the beach, Antonio’s lost his love for football, they are way off. It’s just such an easy game for City. That’s the ultimate lesson, we have to do the job ourselves. Konstantin