Arsenal and Mikel Arteta are still waiting for their first title to come to them | OneFootball

When tennis legend Roger Federer spoke about Alexander Zverev’s near misses in the majors, he didn’t mince his words.

Zverev has had three shots at a slam. He has lost in the final every time, once when he was two-nil ahead with three sets to go. As Tim Flowers famously said: “Don’t talk to me about bottle.”

Arsenal have been bridesmaids three times in a row in the Premier League, once when they were eight points ahead in April 2023. Piers Morgan thinks they have the wedding dress this time.

Yet those words from Federer are delaying the tentative summer invites with the 2-1 weekend defeat at Villa Park. After a tame, error-strewn first half from the visitors, Arsenal went for the jugular to equalise soon after the break with Leandro Trossard. There was no messing. Arteta celebrated in that special brotherhood bounce with his coaching staff.

Go on and win it, implored the fanbase.

But the flurry of punches became the occasional jab. Mike Tyson had turned into Frank Bruno. What should have been a long 45 minutes for Unai Emery’s side became one in which they immediately regained their footing, resulting in a late Emi Buendia winner.

Arsenal players crashed to the floor in a scene more visceral than Hugh Grant standing up Duckface in Four Weddings and A Funeral.

Saying “Yes” to three points in extremis is the mark of champions. It’s the only caveat that has stalled Arsenal’s supreme start to the season. The framing of the draw against Chelsea was a case in point. Never has 60 minutes against ten men been portrayed as a triumph of sorts.

“They have come out of a very difficult week in the Champions League and Premier League with impressive wins over Tottenham and Bayern Munich, and now getting a draw away at the team who were closest to them in the table,” said Alan Shearer.

‘Arsenal didn’t lose their discipline. They kept 11 on the pitch. No suspensions moving forward. A draw at the home of their rivals. Good point,’ declared the Daily Mail’s Oliver Holt.

This felt like a low bar for champions elect.

The North London side are the best team by some distance, but the lead doesn’t prove it. A second glance at recent history shows a tendency to hesitate at the drawbridge. Arteta has overseen 17 Premier League draws since the start of last season – only Crystal Palace, Brighton and Everton have more – while no ever-present in 2022/23 and 2023/24 had fewer than their 11 draws in 76.

Arsenal’s international break was soured by an injury-time Sunderland goal when the Black Cats’ sheer physicality pushed the Gunners back. They had done all the hard work to lead in a ferocious atmosphere, but became too passive in the last 15 minutes.

Similarly, Chelsea were happy to show off their muscles with Trevoh Chalobah giving it the strong man act when putting the Blues ahead. After Arsenal equalised, we waited for the decisive punchline in the last half hour. It never came. Chelsea had more shots in the game, despite the loss of Moises Caicedo.

When Gabriel Martinelli grabbed a last-gasp draw against City in September, Jamie Carragher said: “I always felt at times under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, maybe we had the handbrake on in certain games, and that is what Arteta is doing.”

The Arsenal boss was also reluctant to open up in the 1-0 defeat at Anfield when Liverpool hardly laid a glove on them.

Without William Saliba and Gabriel, Arsenal looked vulnerable on Saturday lunchtime. But the momentum was with them. Personnel is not as important as the principle of showing who is in charge of the match.

There’s still a sense that Arteta fears the idea of losing control when the game is there to be won. The Spaniard wants the crowd to be like “animals” at home, but he neuters the team when they have the kill in sight. The emotional outpouring at the end was telling.

Jose Mourinho knew all about cutting such woke feelings from the job in hand: “Without emotional control, you cannot play, influence; you cannot react. You have to know what you have to do and not react.”

Chelsea’s 2005 warriors were not pretty, but they had ice in their veins. Arsenal have bravehearts, but ones that bear their crushed souls in the penalty box. That will be noted by Pep Guardiola.

The Manchester City manager once admitted that his reaction to a late Liverpool winner against Tottenham in 2019 was “ah, sh*t” during that season’s epic title race. Arteta must inflict such pain on his former boss more often.