Can Arteta stop third meltdown as ‘choke season’ arrives?
Recent history at this stage of campaign does not bode well Arsenal must forget Villa loss to beat Bayern, says manager
One defeat does not represent a “bottling”, despite what Arsenal’s critics may claim, but three consecutive defeats probably would.
Arsenal arrived here last night knowing that their season is on the line over the next few days, and with a need finally to prove that they are capable of handling the pressure that arises at this time of year.
Following their demoralising loss against Aston Villa on Sunday, the complexion of Arsenal’s season has changed. Before kick-off against Villa, the overriding emotion among supporters was excitement at what could be achieved. Afterwards, it suddenly became fear that it might be all over within a few days. Bayern in the Champions League tonight, Wolves in the league on Saturday. Lose both, and Arsenal are surely done until next year.
That is the brutal nature of football at this level, although in Arsenal’s case the situation is made more extreme by their recent history at this time of the campaign.
April has not been a happy month for Mikel Arteta and his players: in 2022, they suffered three consecutive defeats that ultimately proved fatal in their push for the top four. In 2023, they went four games without victory and lost their grip on the Premier League title race. The more pessimistic of their supporters – and the more cruel supporters of other clubs – might call it choking season.
In both of those campaigns, the same labels were attached to this Arsenal team. “Bottlers”, “flimsy”, “weak”. Arsenal’s executives, coaches and players know that those accusations will be made again if these next two games do not go to plan, irrespective of whether they consider these criticisms to be fair.
How do a team shake off such a tag? Well, winning in Munich would represent an emphatic start. The fears of another April collapse would be swiftly replaced by the excitement of a first Champions League semi-final since 2009. Arsenal’s season would be alive. That is how fine the margins are at this stage of the season. These are the stakes now.
“Throw the game away, the one that we played a few days ago, because regardless of that result, it is going to have no impact on what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Arteta said yesterday. “Refocus and start to build the confidence, the trust and understanding, and the performance that we are going to have to put in to beat them and go through.
“Most of our players have not experienced a night like this. This is going to be the first one. They are super-motivated, they are prepared. They feel confident and it is something that tomorrow we are
going to have to show against an opponent that has this experience.
“All the preparation has been to achieve that [a place in the semifinals]. We have earned it. We have earned it for 10 months and everything we did last season, to start our journey in the Champions League after so many years. Tomorrow we have an unbelievable opportunity to make it happen.”
Amid all the negativity that has swirled around Arsenal over the past few days, Leandro Trossard made a fair argument in his press conference at the Allianz Arena yesterday. “Just because of one game there is a lot of talk,” he said. “We have been really good. Especially this year, we were unbeaten until the last game [against Villa]. We just need to keep the right mindset.”
The point, however, is not so much what has happened this season, but what has happened in previous seasons. Arsenal supporters streamed towards the exits on Sunday, long before the final whistle, in large part because of the familiarity of it all (and because of the inevitability of Manchester City’s form at this time of the year). It was the sense that it was all falling apart again, rather than simply a reaction to one bad match. The scars from last year have not healed yet.
Arsenal are playing against the might of Bayern, then, but they are also contending with the weight of their own recent history. There has been significant progress in each of the past three years, and now is the time to demonstrate how much stronger they are than in the Aprils of 2022 and 2023.
“Everyone is ready,” Trossard said. “We can use it as a reaction. It is a big opportunity for us on the biggest stage. Everyone wants to show what we are capable of. There is no better way to do it than tomorrow.”
To be clear, a loss to Bayern in Germany, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, is hardly a catastrophic failure. This is still Bayern, after all, even if their season has been below expectations, and they still have Harry Kane in their attack. Defeat is hardly unthinkable, but it would certainly be uncomfortable for an Arsenal team who would suddenly find themselves clinging onto a campaign which, just a few days ago, had been firmly within their grasp.