Gary Neville has said "mentality" is the reason behind Arsenal's recent collapse after Mikel Arteta's side saw their Premier League title hopes ended at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Having had their destiny in their own hands for so much of the season, a run of just nine points in seven games had left their hopes hanging by a thread before they even kicked off at the City Ground. And that miserable run was compounded by a 1-0 defeat, which meant Manchester City were crowned champions before playing Chelsea the following day.
Despite a campaign which undoubtedly exceeded expectations, the inquest into the capitulation is already well underway. And Sky Sports pundit Neville has cited the mental fragility of the Gunners, also referring to their stumbling form at the end of the 2021/22 season which saw them miss out on fourth place to Tottenham.
"When you look at the context of how poor a run in it is for Arsenal, we know last season they had the top four in their grasp and went on a really bad run towards the end of the season," he said on Monday Night Football. "I looked this morning at this graphic, this shows Arsenal have the lowest collection of points of any team in Premier League history in the last ten games that they have finished in the top three."
"It just tells you what Mikel Arteta is going to have to shift. It's a mentality thing in the final part of the season, it's an experience thing that in the last two seasons in the real two moments, they've not been able to handle that in the last ten games of both seasons."
And Neville argued that the squad were now left to rue what might have been in both of their last two campaigns: "If they'd have got those ten games in both seasons they'd have been in the Champions League last season and they potentially could have been champions this time," he added.
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Despite his criticisms of their end-of-season form, Neville also spoke of his admiration for the manner in which Arsenal had initially surprised people in 2022/23. And his praise was reflected in his choices for the Monday Night Football awards, judging Martin Odegaard as his young player of the season.
And the Norwegian forward was also included in his midfield for his team of the season, whilst teammates Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were up front, either side of Erling Haaland. There was also a place for William Saliba at centre back.
Co-pundit Jamie Carragher wasn't quite as generous, only including Odegaard from the four Gunners picked by Neville. He did however, include Oleksandr Zinchenko at left back after his impressive first season at the Emirates.
