Psychological blow
Arsenal, Liverpool hit by painful reality of title race in City era
IT’S A feeling that both Arsenal and Liverpool have felt a lot, at key moments of the last few seasons. Even Mikel Arteta admitted his dressing room was “frustrated and sad” after the 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa, which was rather different to how he usually responds to such setbacks.
Part of the Spaniard’s approach is to always look forward, in order to prevent any doubt seeping into his team.
It did lead to an obvious question in a fairly terse press conference, as to whether there is now a danger of Arsenal’s season fizzling out.
“If one result is going to do that, then we are not strong enough,” Arteta responded. “That’s very simple.”
It is on one level, but the actual situation is a lot more complicated than that.
On the face of it, it might even seem absurd to be talking in such terms given what the table looks like. Liverpool and Arsenal are still just a point behind Manchester City.
The actual gap is the same as it was before this weekend, when almost everyone was breathlessly talking about a potential three-way title race.
Precisely the problem, however, is that this “one result” – in Liverpool’s case, a 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace – is actually about much more than one result. It’s about the last six years and what everyone knows can now happen.
Much of the excitement around this title race was invigorated by the way both Arsenal and Liverpool seemed to be these emotional waves, and City were suddenly vulnerable.
Arteta’s side looked fortified by the experience of last season, and hadn’t lost a League game in this calendar year.
Liverpool were emotionally propelled by Jurgen Klopp’s farewell, and it inspired this relentless ability for comebacks; as if they could constantly overcome anything.
At least one always stayed ahead of City, who were conceding so many more goals than they usually do. It was as if the champions were giving everyone a chance, which was illustrated in how one of Liverpool or Arsenal persistently stayed ahead.
No more.
City have now scored 13 goals in three games, and it already looked ominous before last weekend’s games. It was at exactly this point last season that they went up a level, from just beating opposition to destroying them.
That’s why it’s as if these doubledefeats came at exactly the wrong time. They have a double effect, especially psychologically. That’s why it’s about more than any one result.
It’s hard not to feel that both challengers need the belief that they can actually beat City to stay stronger for longer; to foster a different momentum. That’s after all what it takes against this kind of machine. That’s what pushed Liverpool to 99 points in 201920.
Now, both Liverpool and Arsenal are feeling that similar sense of deflation. It’s not just that they lost, it’s that those defeats have allowed City to go ahead of them. That is a huge psychological shift.
“We knew this moment could come,” Arteta said, rather conspicuously. Both Liverpool and Arsenal will see the new order of the table and inevitably think of what has happened in the last few seasons. City don’t tend to drop points from here on in.
In the three close races they have actually been in, Pep Guardiola’s side have only dropped two points when the title has been up for grabs after the 32nd match.
Neither Arsenal nor Liverpool have that record to fall back on. They don’t know they can do that. They hope they can, of course, but that’s why the psychology of all this is so important. There’s a reason mind games have been part of the language of title races.
It is that inherent knowledge City have the capacity to always go one further. That has after all been the story of the modern era. – The Independent