Arsenal, the Premier League title race and charges of ‘bottling’

No sooner had Roberto De Zerbi wiped the grass stains from his knees following Brighton’s not entirely surprising humbling of Arsenal than Social Media Abomination Twitter and the airwaves were humming with accusations that Arsenal had, in some way, “bottled” the title. Indeed, even some of their own fans had streamed out of the Emirates well before the final whistle, assuming that the jig was up not only against the Seagulls but against Manchester City too. On a run of 11 consecutive league wins, Pep Guardiola’s side might not even need another from their last three games to take a fifth title in six years, but will probably get it anyway in their final home game against Chelsea, despite the managerial savvy of the man in the away team’s technical area.

As the dejected players of Arsenal lay or hunkered down on the turf after being schooled by Sunday’s visitors, your Ødegaards, your Ramsdales, your Xhakas and your Sakas could have been forgiven for pondering what might have been during an April horribilis, in which they squandered two-goal leads against Liverpool and West Ham, before allowing Southampton to go goal crazy in what would prove their body’s final twitch before relegation as the worst team in the division. “I hate the feeling of letting people down when they are expecting something,” seethed Mikel Arteta, who has clearly never been tasked with dispatching a funny [ahem? – Football Daily Ed] and vaguely informative daily football email to a large audience. “That’s the biggest regret and I have to apologise for that. Second position is secure and that is not going to change but this result is going to take me a few days to digest.”

Despite the charges of “bottling” while looking on course to claim a