Arsenal Have Not Underwhelmed, They Have Overachieved This Season by Patrick S
At the start of the season, Arsenal were dismissed as top four contenders. Most football experts in all media outlets in England were utterly dismissive of Arsenal’s top 4 prospects. In August 2022 for example, out of the 23 BBC Sport football pundits, only 8 thought Arsenal would finish in the top 4 and none of those thought Arsenal would finish higher than 4th!
No one tipped Arsenal to be title contenders. So for Arteta’s men to be running champions Man City this close with only a handful of games to the end of the season, shows just how far the Gunners have come. Mikel Arteta and Edu were very clever in the way they constructed this Arsenal team through the clever signings they made, and that has showed given the brilliant football Arsenal have played until now.
As things stand, Arsenal have guaranteed their participation in next season’s Champions League and as a result, achieved their primary target for the season with 5 games to spare.
Interestingly, they have benefited hugely from the enormous pressure that comes with competing for the league title, and next season they’ll be a year older and a lot more experienced, and will therefore be better equipped to last the distance next year.
I’ve seen some people claiming that if Arsenal missed out on winning the title this season, they might not have the same opportunity in the next ten years, opining that other teams will get better. I find that absolutely ludicrous!
Do they think that as the likes of Man United, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea try to get better next season Arsenal will only sit back and look on? Of course not! Arteta’s team is full of very young but hugely talented players who are nowhere near their prime. The likes of William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Smith-Rowe, Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Ødegaard and others, will only get better
As far as I’m aware, plans to strengthen the team ahead of the 2023/24 season are already underway, with The Athletic’s David Ornstein reporting that Arsenal have drawn up a four-man shortlist consisting of West Ham’s Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, Chelsea’s Mason Mount and Ajax Amsterdam’s Ghanaian hotshot Muhammad Kudus to strengthen their midfield.
There’s talk of a new striker coming in too to increase options upfront, while others are reporting that Arsenal are still actively pursuing Bayer Leverkusen’s French winger, Moussa Diaby and that his club are ready to sell him.
That’s not to mention Spain’s sensational 18-year-old right-back, Ivan Fresneda, who nearly joined in the winter window. Were those to join, Arsenal would not be a team to mess around with, no doubt about that!
So, have Arsenal underwhelmed this season? Absolutely not. Any team destined for sustained success is built over a period of time, and whoever cares to see can clearly see that Arsenal under Arteta are on a serious upward trajectory. They started this season with a target of securing Champions League football and Champions League football they’ve secured and, against all odds, gave themselves a chance of winning the title, against all odds!
The chance to win it may have gone away from them this season, but the experience the players have achieved from being title contenders will stand them in great stead next season, as they launch a more serious challenge for the title.
Have they overachieved, therefore? Absolutely!
Ssekatawa Patrick
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