The four players Arsenal need to win the Premier League title next year

It’s the second Mailbox after the night before. There’s plenty about Spurs fans but let’s talk about Arsenal and how they improve.

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What Arsenal need to win the Premier League title
Arsenal did very well this season (in the PL) and Arteta has implemented standards that were previously obsolete, due to the derelict clown that was previously in charge that oversaw consistent thrashings in every big game Arsenal played. Arsenal’s pathetic soft-touch flakiness under Wenger has finally been consigned to the dustbin.

Where Wenger was a tactical dunce who never practiced set-pieces etc, Arteta has maximised the coaching there. Arsenal finished the season with the best record v the Top 6, they had the best defence in the league and a club-record number of wins (more than the Invincibles).

Ultimately though, they will yet again finish empty-handed. To all those weirdos who celebrated the 0-0 Citeh away result when Citeh had a plethora of injuries and were vulnerable: Arteta was not brave enough. It was bizarre to see various Arsenal fans celebrating a 0-0 at their direct rivals (see mailbox) – why? This is not ambitious. Citeh were there for the taking but Arsenal did not go for it. It was not, “a good point” – I was criticised by the delicate Gooners for saying it then, but if you want to win the league…

The biggest crimes however, were the inability to beat a 10-man Fulham at home, losing to a Moyes West Ham at home and Gabriel Jesus skying a sitter at home to Spurs from 5 yards out to kill the contest. Inexcusable. All those matches showcased Arsenal’s inability to finish simple chances – with the Villa home fixture the Coup de Grace.

Citeh meanwhile have a back-to-back cyborg Golden Boot winner and various players who can create something out of nothing when Citeh are low on ideas (Foden, KDB, Bernardo, Doku). Arsenal have just one top creative outlet (Odegaard), and not one player capable of hitting 20 PL goals. Simple as that.

READ: The most creative players in the Premier League

Arsenal need top-level players over the summer because the ones they currently have aren’t good enough to win anything, that is a Fact. Arteta gave Nketiah a new deal and the 14 shirt. Why? What has Nketiah contributed? Sod all. What has Gabriel Jesus contributed? Last season’s choke job had Jesus’ fingerprints all over it with sitters missed in key matches. He should be dashed out, pointless player. Pep must be still giggling at that one! What the hell is a Fabio Vieira? £40m for what? Reiss Nelson wanted to leave and Arteta begged him to stay: what has Nelson provided? These aren’t hindsight mistakes, they were all obvious at the time.

Arsenal have had two big opportunities to take a PL title off Pep and flunked both (although this season tbf isn’t a classic Bottle job like last season). Arteta needs to swallow his pride and bin off “projects”. Havertz is nice and all but it’s clear what Arteta needs to do over summer:

1. He needs to sign a top level finisher. Long overdue

2. He needs a creative attacking outlet like eg Paqueta of West Ham, Wirtz at Leverkusen

3. He needs a new midfielder to partner Rice who can play further up the pitch, like De Jong of Barca for instance. Get rid of Partey, injury-prone and over the hill.

4. He needs a quality Left back and should keep Tierney as back up

Arsenal have done very well this season but ultimately, history is written by the victors, and it’s another trophyless season (barring a miracle).
Stewie Griffin (celebrating a 0-0 still just weird)

📣TO THE COMMENTS! Is Stewie right about Arsenal? Do they need four new players? Join the debate here

Proud of Arsenal regardless
A shame, but in the end the inevitable has happened and City’s dominance continues in a league where they always win eventually and the three who’ve come up will soon be confirmed down with a whimper. Best league in the world? It doesn’t feel like it these days.

I turned off at 1-0 last night and didn’t see the Son miss in real time which honestly is a relief, but any Arsenal ‘blaming’ that moment this morning shouldn’t; it’s a futile exercise. As in fact is ‘what ifs’ regarding all the games where we should’ve done something differently.

“If only we’d beaten Villa” is fine, but ultimately it’s our sole defeat since new year and literally every fan would’ve taken that if offered it after Fulham away. To ‘only’ not win two games since then is a dream scenario everyone would’ve accepted, and even if you want to blame that one game, or others, what about the moments that went our way?

What if we’d have not conceded late to Villa? Sure, but what if Havertz hadn’t scored late winners home & away v Brentford? What if VAR had ruled Newcastle’s goal out? Fine, but what is Van De Ven’s had stood? We also scored late winners against United, Luton and City themselves before Xmas. I maintain a 0-0 draw at City was an excellent result and at the time it kept it in our hands – that isn’t why we’ve not won this title even though some like to pinpoint that particular game. Simply put, this is all just the story of a season.

Post City away, we won every single game bar one. Look at the opposition we played in that stretch – it’s an excellent run when there are no easy games. Since January we’ve been absolutely immense. No regrets, we just have to enjoy it. We’re excellent and it’s exciting. Hopefully we pick ourselves up and go again next year.

As for Tottenham, woof. Absolutely feel free to bask in the ‘glory’ today, but honestly the Ange presser afterwards was an Australian version of an Italian’s rant just over a year ago. This week appears to have divided him and in the fanbase (admittedly based on some of the crap Twitter exposes to me) but his demeanour was such last night that I wonder if he’ll even bother to be back for another crack next season. Quite a funny silver lining, certainly.

Onwards Gunners, have loved (almost) every minute and I thank Arteta for making us this relevant again.
Joe, AFC, East Sussex

…It’s not over but it feels like it is. No shame or blame on Spurs players, Son’s miss or Ange they gave City a better game than most thought and their fans wanted. Similar to Man U giving Arsenal a good game but without the small mindedness from their fans wanting to lose the game.

Of course everyone should understand Spurs fans wanting their team to lose to deny Arsenal the title but perhaps there should have been a bit more shame with having those thoughts and possibly realising how small time it makes you seem when you take it to the extremes many did.

Listening to Ange’s post-match comments talking about the foundations of the club and learning a lot in the last 48 hours, those small minded Spurs fans in their City shirts and doing the Poznan may have unwittingly done more damage than they imagined, because your manager and players simply do not put your rivalry with Arsenal higher than their own ambitions for the club.

Such is the internet now that I’m sure this will illicit the ‘cry more’ or ‘you’re rattled’ response, but like I said it’s fine and normal that Spurs fans didn’t want Arsenal to win the league, but when it means your own team have to lose to stop that happening it’s probably best to have some quiet dignity and perspective about it.

So it’s almost certainly 4 in a row for City and only a huge upset will stop them backing up the treble with a double. After 20 games Arsenal had 3 fewer points than City, in the final 18 games Arsenal likely had to get 52 points out of 54 to be champions, we got 48. It’s futile Arsenal fans looking back at ‘games where the title was ‘lost’ because you could equally look at last minute winners v Luton and Man U to show how fine the line can be both ways. Whatever way you cut it Arsenal have had a tremendous season.

City’s title (Unless Moyes can inspire a park the bus masterclass) will be generally treated with apathy by fans. Rivals want City to win it if their club can’t and I get it, City’s title wins can be excused and brushed aside as expected and don’t reflect badly on the team you support. But if someone else wins, like when Liverpool did you have to start to look more at your own teams failings. If they could do it why can’t we? See also Villa getting in the champions league just 5 seasons after being promoted – it’s a great achievement and reflects badly on clubs with similar resources or who started from a stronger position.

Also fans of the ‘rest’ generally don’t come across City fans older than 12 so don’t have that relentless oneupmanship over them. When Man U were winning so many titles their fans were unbearable so we wanted someone else to win it so we could give it back to them for once. City fans aren’t unbearable because we don’t come across them in our every day lives.

The entire world will be watching the outcome of the 115 charges very, very closely, it really will be the biggest decision in English football in my lifetime and probably beyond. This essentially decides whether we let it happen or we stop it happening, because despite all the legal jargon and smoke screens if we are to truly believe that City have broken none of the rules around FFP or P&S then we have to believe that at board, commercial and marketing level City have completed the greatest feat anyone has ever witnessed in football.

What we’re being asked to believe is that with a minuscule fanbase in comparison to the giants of the game City have persuaded sponsors, partners, kit manufacturers etc to pay them more than any team because City’s revenue which allows them to spend so much on players is higher than Real Madrid’s! We all know they are guilty but we live in a world where sadly that has to be argued and poured over by highly paid lawyers to win/lose the argument on technicalities.

Same again next season everyone?
Rich, AFC

…Lee the Liverpool fan was absolutely spot on with his mail this morning, summed up the reality perfectly.

As an Arsenal fan my apathy towards Man City was actually pretty low – they are a plastic toy club with which we’ve never really had any rivalry, they were treading a path of mega investment that many have now done (my real dislike for that being reserved for Chelsea who set the modern premier league on that path), and I used to rather they won trophies than our traditional rivals.

I also used to laugh at an outstanding Liverpool side that only manager to win the league once despite being so good. But now, having gone toe to toe with City for two seasons and experiencing the crushing inevitability that they will end up winning, I would wholeheartedly back anyone who can run against them, and would like to backdate a massie amount of kudos to Liverpool! Spurs fans are light years away from this realisation so I can understand their actions last night.

Whilst Guardiola remains, while they augment their squad as needed with no real difficulty or challenge, and whilst the charges against them sit in quicksand, it will take a truly exceptional achievement to beat City over the course of a season. The fact that we got so close this year (ok, miracles can happen, do it for Declan, Hammers!!) gives me a lot of pride and it’s been a blast, so here’s to trusting Mikel & Co to find the extra magic needed for next year!
Diaby, Gooner, happy and sad at the same time

Congratulations Arsenal, you have won the title
It’s 2040, the City Owners have lost interest in Football and moved on to interstellar sports with AI robots. The PL grows a spine and re opens the investigation into Man City and finds all 115 charges to be true! New evidence and all that..

Congratulations Arsenal for winning the 2023-24 title!*

Just wait a decade or two.
Shivam, MUFC (yes I am bitter)

…In the old days of Championship Manager one of the tricks I used to employ to ensure success was adding additional managers and then buying all my fringe players for massive fees. This gave me a hugely inflated transfer budget with which to buy players. I’m sure people still do this today with Football Manager, I’ve moved on and now play the game properly.

Thinking back on this, deep down I knew that anything I won didn’t really count as it was achieved through cheating. I imagine this is how Man City fans must really feel…
Chris, NUFC

So you’re telling me there’s a chance?
In some ways the Spurs 0-2 City result has made it simpler.

No more worrying about Goal Difference, and whether Arsenal will beat Everton 2-0 only for City to win 5-0 and win on Goals Scored.

However improbable (bordering impossible) it is, IF West Ham somehow hold Cty to a draw, then any Arsenal win against Everton will do.

Come on Moyes! show the world you are indeed the next Sir Alex!

Between Antonio, Kudus, Paqueta, Soucek and Ward-Prowse there is definitely at least 1 shock goal in there. Kurt Zouma, all will be forgiven (by the Arsenal Animal rights activists at least).
Hats (Andy Dufresne: [in letter to Red] “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”)

Look at that Man City money advantage
Manchester City were able to bring on a free transfer from Armenia Bielefeld from their stacked bench to put them top of the league with one match to play. He made a save after one of City’s defenders made a bad mistake, but he was bought from Borussia Dortmund’s reserve team, so what can you reasonably expect?

I really do not know how the paupers of Arsenal, Liverpool. Manchester United, Chelsea, Spurs and others can possibly compete with such gross financial excess.

The game’s gone.
Mark Meadowcroft

Who doesn’t want their team to win?
I don’t really get it. There’s a lot of talk about Spurs celebrating Haaland’s goal to deny us the title which, whilst I would never celebrate an opposition goal at our home ground and i would like to think there is no way this would happen at the Emirates, I can kind of just about understand. The banter/abuse would be endless for Spurs fans so I have the slightest sympathy.

But to not support your team for the whole match when you could secure Champions League football leading up to that first goal is some epic loser mentality. You could hear a pin drop as the crowd clearly showed no interest in encouraging their team to win. Spurs didn’t even play that badly and with a bit of home support who knows. Ange is right to call it out, that’s 3 top level managers calling out the clubs mentality inside and outside.

I think he’s the right man to change it in the same way Arteta was for us, hopefully the fans realise that and back him fully.
Rob A (time for the Moyesiah rebirth) AFC

MORE ON SPURS FANS FROM F365:
👉 Spurs fans would rather Arsenal didn’t win the league and that has blown some tiny minds
👉 Spurs fans decried as ‘idiots’ as Arsenal warned that this won’t be fun…

…I never really hated Spurs. I guess as an Arsenal fan outside of England (let alone London) the effects of a city rivalry have much less of an impact on you and aren’t very relevant. I understand it and where it comes from, but I never really cared for it. Always enjoy the derbies though!

I find rivalries to make more sense if they are with those you challenged for titles with. I hate Manchester United as a club, way more than Spurs, for example. Nothing will replace those competitive seasons between Fergie and Arsene, and I always take joy in watching United fail.

That being said, yesterday really settled my thoughts on Tottenham Hotspur as a football club. The reactions and chants from their fans were nothing short of pathetic, and it seems their manager agrees too.

Why on earth would you rather watch your ‘rivals’ fail to win a title than potentially qualify for the Champions League? Isn’t it more important for your club to find success than to see another one miss out?

Never have I wished for my team to lose a game. Never. Irrelevant of their situation. Especially if it affects their position for some larger victory.

Are Spurs so ‘irrelevant’ that their fans only find joy in watching their rival suffer? Is that what you have become as a club? It was genuinely sad to see.
Malcolm, AFC

…What an absolute joke of a club Spurs are. All that talk of them potentially winning or drawing being Spursy, when in actual fact, having fans wanting their own team to lose and forfeiting champions league was, for them, better than Arsenal winning the league. Now that’s Spursy.

This is Man Citeh, the absolute cheats. Can the Spurs fans really not see how rubbish it is for them to win again? Your team actually played quite well, all things considered.

Spurs as a club aren’t Spursy, it’s the fans. Glorious failure to revel in. Stewie ought to be targeting them rather than us. At least we want to win against a severely doped side. I accept that we’ve fallen short by losing against Fulham and Villa, but we’ve given it a proper go.
JazGooner (now see West Ham win and us only manage a draw, after all that..)

…Very long time since I wrote into the mailbox and as I sit here a very proud and happy Villa fan this morning, I can only say thank you to Unai Emery for coming along and not only picking the club off the floor after the disaster piece that was Steven Gerrard’s time in charge, but transforming to club into one that should not feel out of place starting next season amongst Europe’s elite.

While it would have been a dream to see Villa lift a trophy again and getting so feebly knocked out of the Conference League at the semi final stage was hard to take, qualifying for the Champions League regardless of what form it will take next season is absolutely massive for the continued progression of the club.

There is a fantastic photo of Unai Emery at the Villa awards night last when the final whistle went in the City match which they had been watching after the awards ceremony. Go find it and see what it means to him and the players and the club. Whatever the fairytale it has been under Emery so far, this may be just the beginning of the real story. This isn’t big. It’s massive.

Which brings me onto Spurs. Really lads? Ye really deep down wanted the Thursday/Sunday slog of the Europa League and to not be able to attract the top top players, to fall even further behind the top clubs? Which ye will. Ye want to miss out on the significant revenue increase that the CL would have brought while trying to pay off a shiny new stadium? A fan base basking in their own failure, their own short comings.

Too insecure and fragile to stop looking over the neighbours fence and get on with your own lives. Arsenal may finish second but as with Villa, it’s onwards and upwards with that club and their league win has only been postponed, not cancelled. Spurs? Well, good luck finding that Harry Kane replacement and selling the club to any top players when your own manager is clearly as baffled as he is embarrassed by the loser culture around that club.

Up the Villa. Roll on next season.
Kevin Walsh, Luimneach

…It was no surprise to see Spurs fans revelling in defeat. They’ve been doing it since 1961.
Matthew, Belfast

But Spurs fans did want Spurs to win…
I went to the City game last night because my Spurs’ mate had a spare; I’m pretty neutral in this fight, and all I can say is — everyone round me wanted Spurs to win. Of course pre-match in the Coach and Horses there were a few jokes about ‘letting City win’ and even a few light blue Spurs away tops dug out of the back of the closet. But as soon as the match started everyone roared Spurs on. I got the impression that if there had been a couple of early City goals the tide might have turned but if it’s tight and your team are having the best of it — how can you not support them?

City didn’t even play particularly well: Foden is a box of tricks and Silva a technician but until Doku came on they lacked any spark or danger. If Spurs had Son of last year or Sir Harry they would have won. Sorry, Gooners, they did try, honest..
Dan, London

This Spurs fan is behind Ange
Ange is right. Whilst he is too clever to say this, a big chunk of the crowd were shameful last night. We have more songs about Arsenal than we do about our own team and as long as we gain more pleasure out of them failing than us succeeding we will be small time. At no stage did the crowd really get behind the team and that must be so disheartening. We had a real chance to nail City and convince them that we are their bogey team and that they can’t win a league game at our shiny stadium.

I realise this is heresy, but City are as odious a team as Arsenal and there are at least 115 reasons why. We have to change our mentality or we will continue to fail as we have done for so many years. Maybe Conte was right and whilst he didn’t have the stomach to change the club , I really hope that Ange does.
Rob (COYS)

Somebody’s happy
Remember everyone: Be careful what you wish for.

Up the Villa.
Neil Raines