Phlegm Genius on Football: Arsenal draw against Brentford but hold the bottle for now…

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 Arsenal dropped points tonight to Brentford and missed the chance to go six points clear. And yes Man City are chasing them down (I’m a neutral no dog in the fight) but they have to hold their nerve. If anything a close title race will be better for all and for Arsenal if they win it. It doesn't matter how you get over the line as long as you do it. And if it’s by a single point winning is winning. Fans expecting a 12 point gap and panicking it’s not that are missing the point in my opinion. Showing your metal is being there in May not leading 12 points in February. After all, some of the greatest premier league teams and some good sides have blown 12 and 13 points leads to not win the title. Arsenal clawed back a 13 point deficit in 1998. Newcastle famously blew a 12 point lead in the 95-96 season.

I felt months ago when Villa were in the title race and they still are in  my opinion (even though everyone else disagrees) that the monster coming down the track for them and Arsenal wasn’t Man City, it was self doubt. And I get it they’re a juggernaut with one of the best strikers in Europe, one of the if not the best goalkeeper in the world and arguably the greatest manager of all time. But if anyone is going to pip them to the title they have to believe. If teams are hoping for a blip then in my mind they’re already not in the mindset to be champions. If anything you want to beat a good Man City side otherwise rivals will just say you won it because they’re off season. Arsenal and Villa have to focus on themselves and take it one game at a time. If you’re riding a bike and trying to look behind you to check where your opponent is, the chances are you’ll crash.

I do get it though City’s win against Liverpool was awe inspiring, that was a comeback. That was what the Premier League should be about. And few neutrals we needed, we needed the drama. After last season we need a title race and a rivalry. We need teams at their best. So hopefully City are getting close to their best. Close but they’ll be no vintage city. They can’t be. Not without DeBruyne or Mahryz, Gundogan, David Silva, Tours or Aguero. But Cherki and Reijnders are City legends in the making given time. Next season will see them come into their own and I still think they’ll have a say in the title destination this time around. And if they do and Arsenal still find a way then they’ll have deserved the title. 

For Arsenal it’s all in the mind. I don’t buy the whole bottlers tag for all the seasons they’ve finished second recently. Last season they were the least poor of a bad bunch that got blown away by Liverpool. And they did well the season before to put  a run together after a bad december to lose out by 2 points. But losing two separate 8 point leads in 2023 was them bottling it and I think that has haunted them ever since. I certainly think it has affected Arterta in regards to style of play. Long gone is the free flowing football of that season and in my opinion I think they have doubted themselves ever since particularly in big games against their rivals.  People will talk about the 5-1 to City last season and Real Madrid but in all the other head to heads they haven’t been front foot attacking. Normally I wouldn’t say now has to be the time but it’s been six years in the making and going back to Newcastle in the 90s as an example eventually your time comes and goes. Especially for a manager who’s never won a league they’re belief goes and if not the players and eventually the club stops believing. I get in terms of history Arsenal have far more titles than Newcastle but its’s been over twenty years with a real major, no one really sees an FA Cup as a major anymore. And just as winning is a habit, losing or not being able to get over the final hurdle becomes one too.

I find Villa’s role in the title race a curious one too. It feels like Emery conceding any chance for it even as soon as he was a contender. There have been some strange press conferences and the comments of fighting for top 5 and not being favourites had shades of Maresca at Chelsea last season when he didn’t want to commit to a title challenge.  For him I get it more as he had a very young side but Villa have a lot more experience in the squad. And yes that's not title winning experience, although they are one or two that have won other European leagues not to mention a World Cup winner  but still there’s experience enough to better handle pressure for longer and stay in the race. I’m saying Villa will win it but with everyone dropping points they’re still capable of having a saying and applying some kind of pressure. Again mindset is key here if you;re beating before you start then you’re beaten.

A four point lead is nothing but then is everything at the same time, As said earlier City last won it by 2 points. They famously won it in 2012 by goal difference and were  8 points behind with 8 games to play. Yet during their imperial phase Man City twice were taken to the last day of the season and won it by 1 point against Liverpool on both occasions. 4 points in Feb is a lead so Arsenal  should embrace it and the pressure. After it’s meant to make diamonds and if this Arsenal team is what everyone thinks it is then now’s the time to shine. I think the fans are the ones who need to hold their nerves the most. They seem to oscillate between crowning themselves Champions in January to panicking at every dropped point. If the team has their mindset then they’re never winning any silverwave regardless of what team they build.  It’s almost as if the team needs a siege mentality against their own fanbase (don’t come for me Gunner). They just need to drown out all the noise, negative or positive and just believe. It all just makes for a possibly thrilling title race. I just hope it’s not all over by March.

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