They Can't Handle The Pressure.
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Arsenal faltered when it mattered the most as they couldn't withstand the heat and they succumbed to defeat at the hand of Brighton. It looked like the top 4 race for narrowed down to 2 horse race between Arsenal and Tottenham after Manchester United and West Ham's inconsistencies ruled them out as they are behind the pecking order and now it looks like Arsenal is trailing their North London rivals after Tottenham thrashed Aston Villa by 4-0 with Son's Hat-trick and Arsenal couldn't keep up with their North London rivals.
It looked like it's going to be the same story about Arsenal all over again with their yet-oh-near and oh-so-close season. They always come close and then fall short when it mattered. Most Arsenal fans would have been used to that by now but I am still not ruling them out because I have to give credit to Arsenal this season, they came up after underwhelming performances and they maintained a solid run in before some patches of bad results knocked them behind a little.
They are still in the hunt for it with Tottenham even though Tottenham is better placed than Arsenal. The other contenders for it are out after Everton of all teams defeated Manchester United. Brighton showed they needed this game the more even though Arsenal were unlucky after they struck the post twice. That's never an excuse because before Brighton scored their second goal, Arsenal didn't look like they were in the game.
It was a frantic finish as Arsenal heaped the pressure so late on but it was too late for them to get anything from the game. This is when the pressure thickens and Arsenal couldn't handle it. A lot of people have been calling for the head of Mikel Arteta but they did early in the season before he managed to turn things around for the team. The beauty of Arsenal is that anyone can score and they are not heavily dependent on Lacazette but his leadership skills come in handy.
Martin Odegaard has come to good form at the best time of the season after his lovely strike reduced the deficit for Arsenal. Brighton would be happy with the 3 points and they worked their socks off to attain that win. It's a long road for Arsenal because they still have some tough fixtures to navigate before the season comes to an end. It's more difficult for Arsenal now because Tottenham seems to have found form at the right time this season after winning 4 games in a row since the time they lost 3-2 against Manchester United, thanks to Ronaldo's hat-trick.
It's still sketchy because if you ask me, I still don't trust Tottenham that much too but it's looking like this is the season they can be happy about, at least the ending of it and this would make Antonio Conte proud. A lot of teams would falter at the tail end of the season and it's about the character of the team now to get results. With more pressure, teams would be prone to more mistakes and let's see how Arsenal and Tottenham would fare but I expect more twists to come.
This is when you need your players to deliver at the tail end of the season and Arsenal seem to be sleeping off and slipping off. Trossard and Mwepu both delivered for their teams and Odegaard did for his team too but others came short in one way or the other. Arsenal would need to do better if they want to challenge Tottenham for the top 4 spot.
Arsenal still has a game in hand and only if they can win that, can they go level on points with Tottenham even though Tottenham have a better goal difference. If the game comes to goal difference, I don't think Arsenal can make up enough ground on the 10 goal difference between them and Tottenham but the best they can do is to win their next game and take it one step at a time, hoping for Tottenham to slip up.
Cheers.
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