“Arsenal will start to panic a little bit, the anxiety will kick in, pressure builds." Those were the words of Gary Neville who, not for the first time in recent weeks, was detailing the reasons why he still believes Mikel Arteta’s side will fall short this season as they hunt the club’s first Premier League title since 2004.
“They have struggled in latter parts of seasons, with last season the most recent example,” the former Manchester United captain continued. “This is why Manchester City will win the Premier League.”
Neville is not alone with those thoughts. In fact, the majority of pundits and high-profile former players working in the media seem to feel like it will be City who ultimately get their hands on the Premier League trophy in May.
There is an expectation that Arsenal’s inexperience will catch up with them, that they will fall away when the pressure really starts to build during the final weeks of the season.
But one place where you will hear no such suggestion is at Arsenal itself. Not from Mikel Arteta, not from his coaching staff and certainly not from the players.
They truly believe they can win the title, and instead of fearing a repeat of last season’s late collapse, they are instead using it as motivation.