The foundations of Arsenal’s title challenge can be traced back to the capitulation of their previous one.
On May 19 this year, Mikel Arteta felt compelled to point out some home truths during a meeting at their team hotel ahead of the penultimate game of the season at Nottingham Forest.
Five days earlier, the Spaniard watched his team implode at home to Brighton, a result that effectively ended Arsenal’s title dream.
But it was not that result or performance that had Arteta’s goat. The mood at the club’s London Colney training ground in the aftermath of that harrowing loss was distinctly gloomy.