Petr Cech swapped Chelsea for Arsenal a few years ago, and although he admits that he did not want to leave the Premier League, he had the worry that the Gunners did not have the “victor’s mentality” that he was used to seeing at Stamford Bridge, and he worries that he just won’t win the amount of titles that were the norm with the Blues.
Cech said in an interview: “On arriving at the club, I said to myself, ‘Okay, Arsenal have not won the Premier League in 10 years but I want to be the one who helps them win the title’,”
“I did not see myself leaving the league which is, in my opinion, the best in the world, and I also wanted to continue fighting for the title. The concern is that we did not have a victor’s mentality.
“Chelsea had a simple advantage: on the past ten years, the club has gained more than fifteen titles. The first reason for this, from one year to the next, is that changes in the staff have not been very drastic.
“Come the end of the season, there was always a title, be it the Premier League, an FA Cup, a Champions League or something else. Arsenal have not won anything, beyond the victories in FA Cup, since 2004.
“If you look carefully, there are few who has won the Premier League … There’s Danny Welbeck and me. We have to learn together, we must find this path towards victory.
“My dream today would be to win as much with Arsenal as with Chelsea but I do not think I have ten years left in me for that.”
Arsenal have certainly had their chances to win the title, especially in Leicester’s season, but the team just don’t have that killer instinct to beat mid-table teams to stay on top when they are in the mix. At least not until the title race has already slipped from their grasp. Could it simply be a mental issue, or the lack of title winners in the team?
Darren N