Arsenal team
They went into war with Lions and were lucky to achieve something out of it, does it make them cowards or overachievers?
In a captivating crescendo, the 2022/23 premier league season gracefully waltzed to its grand finale, leaving the footballing world spellbound. Like a tapestry woven with destiny’s threads, each team embraced its ultimate fate, unraveled on the climactic canvas of the final matchday.
As the curtain fell, some positions gracefully bowed to the anticipated tune, while others orchestrated surprises, sending shockwaves through the hearts of English top-flight aficionados.
Part of those shocks or surprises were former Premier League champions of the 2015/16 season, Leicester City ending up in the Championship despite their 2-1 win over West Ham on the final matchday, as Everton’s lone goal against rivals on the day was enough to relegate the Foxes while saving them from the drop.
There were of course other surprises from the final matchday of the 2022/23 season, such as bottom-placed team Southampton playing out an enticing 8 goal thriller against Liverpool in a 4-4 score line, and of course, Frank Lampard forcing out a draw against Champions League bound Newcastle despite falling to an early lead to the Magpies.
Amidst the unfolding tales of the 2022/23 season, one resounding story took flight. Manchester City weathered the tempestuous seas to secure their illustrious third consecutive Premier League crown. Meanwhile, the title rivals Arsenal, with the bitter taste of irony, found themselves the unwilling recipients of laughter, labeled as the lamentable “bottle jobs” of the league.
‘Arsenal bottled the league despite being top of the premier league table the most of any team chasing for the title’ became the famous line by pundits, fans and analysts.
Arsenal team
The narrative was argued against by the likes of the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, who insisted the Gunners never bottled the league title, and staunch Arsenal fanatics who believed the team even sitting first place in the league for consecutive months was only due to them stretching their luck and overreaching.
But were they? Did Arsenal really bottle the league or were they aiming higher than they really had bargained for?
Looking back to the start or perhaps, prior to the beginning of the 2022/23 season, pundits, punters were all placing bets on Manchester City pulling off another title run again against Liverpool. In fact, the signings of Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez by both clubs respectively drove the summer narratives about the challenge of the 2022/23 premier league season.
It was even furthered when Liverpool triumphed in a 3-1 win over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield a week before Matchday 1 of the premier league season, where Darwin Nunez; the €84m signing from Benfica to Liverpool pulled out a performance that made premier league fans and pundits to laugh off his Manchester City counterpart, Erling Haaland.
Another Liverpool vs Manchester City title charge, the world had believed, only to fast forward to the first premier league matchday to see the Reds narrowly avoid defeat away to newly promoted Fulham. Manchester City themselves had it tough in the early stages of the season, with their neighbours, Manchester United also having it tough on their own end.
But out came a rejuvenated Arsenal, strolling into the top of the table on the first matchday, and even going on to hold the spot till the world cup break came on to cut the season into 2 halves. Whispers started sailing the air. Can Arsenal do it? Will they do it? Is it just the early season rush? Oh, this is the early season rush. They are only place holders for the eventual champions, Manchester City.
Even Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, at one point resigned to awarding Arsenal the title, conceding ‘defeat’ to the unstoppable Arsenal.
Of course, with the way Mikel Arteta’s team started the season, went on about it despite the return from the world cup, and Liverpool’s continuous collapse under Jurgen Klopp, fans started to imagine a title challenge for the first time in years, involving Arsenal, and this time against of all teams, Manchester City.
The gunners were surely on a winning streak that confused everyone, with terrific performances against top teams that fans were looking at the game they will fall. Sure that game never came, as long as rival fans and pundits kept waiting for it. Arsenal kept pulling off wins through and narrow, and sealing them off even. Despite injuries to star men Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey at certain points, Arsenal held on to keep nabbing 3 points from their games.
Pep Guardiola
It was all going smooth, till it ultimately didn’t. And that was in April, the triple ties against West Ham, Liverpool, Southampton became the cursed fixtures that Arsenal could have hoped to have avoided towards the tail end of the season, as the consecutive draws lost them vital points before their fated rematch versus Manchester City at the Etihad.
It was this game that showed to the world why Arsenal despite failing to secure wins versus a struggling West Ham, Liverpool and Southampton teams, did not bottle the league despite being on a 2-0 lead in the 2 of those games. Manchester City through their performance versus Arsenal at the Etihad, showed Arsenal were nothing more than overachievers in that 2022/23 season.
And why were they overachievers?
They had seen themselves race into the title unexpectedly when teams that were predicted to challenge for it; the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea had fallen below expectations in the early stages of the premier league season. This of course gave the Arsenal team the belief in the impossible; to keep winning till they could see where it brought them. And of course, win they kept on winning, till the struggling teams got their mojos back and started proving the challenge Arsenal least had expected.
As the curtains lifted on the new season, the shadow of doubt loomed over Arsenal’s prospects, casting a veil of skepticism that even Mikel Arteta, Kroenke, and the league’s pundits and punters couldn’t escape.
The goal was to achieve Champions League football. Champions League football they ultimately got. So no, Arsenal were not and never Premier League bottlers but overachievers who took advantage of a fluke situation.
Aminu Wada writes for Eko Hot Blog. This media platform reserves all rights to this article.
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