NOWHERE TO HIDE AT THE ETIHAD NEIL MOXLEY
Email: neil.moxley@reachplc.com
MIKEL ARTETA is now into his fifth season as Arsenal’s boss.
He’s spent around £650million on players and won one FA Cup.
That’s a lot of money for little return.
If that’s going to improve, the club must learn how to win.
And do so when it matters. When it is decisive in the pursuit of glory.
And today would be a good place to start – Arteta needs to leave the Etihad with something.
It would set up his club to take that final step towards the title. The feelgood factor would rocket skywards.
Evidence shows that once the glass ceiling is broken, confidence flows.
Interesting, isn’t it, how cyclical it becomes?
Teams – such as Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – have all developed this most magnificent of habits.
They win once. And, having proved it to themselves as much as anything, they’re able to do it again.
In Guardiola’s case most recently, and again and again.
Arsenal have to find a way. No one said it was going to be easy. There’s next to nothing separating today’s combatants and Liverpool in the title race.
Reflection
The Gunners currently sit top of the pile. Yet if you look at the betting odds, they are third.
Perhaps that’s a reflection of the fact that they will be outsiders to win in Manchester this afternoon.
Defeat there would swing the pendulum in favour of Guardiola’s side, no question.
But there would still be nine games to go. One slip up is all it takes.
Why would they be in that position of third favourites – the fixtures to come are pretty similar, each of them has to play Aston Villa – when they are top?
It’s because both Manchester City and Liverpool have won more. Their players know what it takes to drag themselves over the line.
Let’s face it, Arsenal were in a great position at exactly this stage 12 months ago to do something about the situation.
But they managed to toss away a two-goal lead, established inside the opening half-hour of a game at Anfield.
And their season subsequently crumbled around them.
Arteta spent big last summer – Declan Rice was his £105m marquee signing – to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
But with the greatest of respect to the former West Ham skipper, he doesn’t have any track record either in these situations.
Pressure
Yes, he’s played when the pressure is on – mostly for the Three Lions – but not with a Premier League title at stake.
And that goes for the overwhelming majority of Arteta’s squad too – save for the two recruits from Manchester City, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
If the Basque wants to do it on a regular basis, he first needs to crack the code.
And the longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes to convince those players in the dressing room that they are capable.
That they do possess the selfconfidence – in themselves and each other – to know that when the chips are down they can pull it through.
Manchester City have it. This group has pulled it off time and again. Most recently 12 months ago when Arsenal fell by the wayside and they landed the Treble.
It’s going to be tough at a venue where defeat is rarely inflicted upon the hosts.
But that’s what it takes to win Premier League titles.
And never mind the watching world, Arsenal need to prove to themselves they have what it takes.