Jeff Stelling has given his honest verdict on if Arsenal have ‘bottled’ the Premier League title after yesterday’s loss to Aston Villa.
The north London side threw away a golden chance to build some distance on Liverpool in the title race after losing 2-0 to Villa at home, with Manchester City now sitting two points clear at the top of the standings.
With Martin Odegaard coming off with a potential injury, yesterday could well have been the beginning of the end for Arsenal, who last year suffered an arguably worse bottle job after throwing away an eight-point lead in April to concede the title to City.
However, Stelling thinks too much is being made of Arsenal’s loss to Villa.
Stelling argues Arsenal haven’t ‘bottled’ the league despite Aston Villa loss
Speaking on TalkSport, the legendary pundit made the argument that Arsenal haven’t ‘bottled’ anything yet, with the Gunners still two points off City, who have a number of hard away ties coming up in the Premier League.
Indeed, Arsenal’s opening half performance was impressive against Villa, and had it not been for some poor finishing on the day, the north London side could have easily come away yesterday with all three points against Villa.
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Stelling said: “I am not having it at the moment that Arsenal are bottle jobs. Arsenal were brilliant for 45 minutes yesterday, the problem was that the second 45 minutes they came up against a side who were fantastically tactically organised by Unai Emery.
“I don’t think Arsenal have bottled it, they’re chasing a fabulous team in Manchester City, they played really well for a long time yesterday. Had it not been for that Martinez save in the first-half, it’s a different story, let’s leave bottle out of this.”
Arsenal have to ensure shock loss doesn’t spiral out of control
Arsenal are now fully aware that the pressure will be on them to give a response after losing to Villa, with Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash against Bayern Munich the perfect fixture for the Gunners to make a comeback.
However, the north London side have to ensure that Sunday’s loss doesn’t lead to another downward spiral, something Arsenal experienced last season in embarrassing fashion after a string of poor results.
Which is what makes Wednesday’s tie against Bayern so important, with Arsenal’s season potentially on the line depending on what happens in Germany.