At the time of writing, Arsenal sit top of the Premier League, two points clear of second-placed Manchester City with a game in hand and twelve fixtures remaining in the season. To the untrained eye it would seem that everything is coming up Arsenal. The Arteta project and the painstaking rebuild that came with it have finally come to a head, and the Gunners are launching their first serious title charge since the 2015/16 season. They have pulled several last minute winners out of the bag, and the team morale seems stratospheric.
There are cracks in the mortar, however. Arsenal have the youngest squad in the league, and, with the wily old foxes of Manchester City breathing down their neck, Arsenal will need to fight to make sure their increasingly sweaty palms don’t lost their grip on the Premier League trophy.
On his YouTube channel The Overlap, Gary Neville stated that “Its too much emotion, too early for Arsenal. To be that desperate and to celebrate that much with half the race still to go, its not a good thing.”
Despite the big moments and the last minute winners (of which there have been several), Neville feels that this inexperienced yet tight knit Arsenal squad are letting the moment get on top of them, and it is hard to disagree. For many of these players, this season presents a first chance at major silverware, and the trophy is almost within touching distance, but as City inch ever closer the pressure will continue to mount. Can the young guns hold on?
This is why Manchester City will win the Premier League, because when it gets to the last 10 games, Arsenal will start to panic a little bit, the anxiety will kick in, pressure builds
gary neville
Neville went on to say that “This is why Manchester City will win the Premier League, because when it gets to the last 10 games, Arsenal will start to panic a little bit, the anxiety will kick in, pressure builds.”
It is difficult to disagree with Neville. Both clubs have a tricky run in, with multiple big six faceoffs and potentially upsetting lower league clashes, but it remains to be seen whether youth and flair can win out over age and experience. The two will face off on April 26 in a blockbuster top of the table clash, and it goes without saying that the result will have massive implications for the title race.
Experience vs youth, champions vs underdogs, north vs south, master vs teacher. A wise man once told me that “football is all about narratives,” and the 2023 title race has storylines in abundance. The final chapter of the storybook is yet to be written; can the Gunners write themselves into Premier League history?