Gary Neville has outlined worrying moments involving Oleksandr Zinchenko and two other Arsenal stars he spotted that may have led to the Gunners' title collapse. The 3-0 defeat against Brighton made it 12 points dropped by Mikel Arteta's men in their last six games, which has given Manchester City a four-point lead at the top.
Three successive draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton came before their decisive title clash with Pep Guardiola's side. Despite a humbling defeat to the reigning champions, Arsenal got huge wins against Chelsea and Newcastle to seemingly get their title charge back on track.
Unfortunately for them, in that time City were relentless picking up maximum points which saw them return to the top of the league for the first time since mid-February.
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In their pursuit of the title, the Gunners secured numerous memorable victories with last-minute winners against Aston Villa and Manchester United ranking high. However, the last-gasp strike from Reiss Nelson saw Arsenal complete a heroic comeback against Bournemouth.
In the aftermath of the result, Zinchenko was spotted celebrating long after the triumph in the streets of London. Upon reflecting about Arsenal's seemingly failed title bid, Neville explained why that exact moment was a cause for concern.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville said: "I always doubted whether this Arsenal team could, just looking at some of the things that were happening. The over-celebrations against Aston Villa, I look at little things - that might seem a little bit harsh.
"Zinchenko after the game against Bournemouth I think it was, celebrating with the fans an hour after the game and screaming - you want your leaders in the team who’ve been there before to spread composure around the dressing room to calm everybody down, you don’t want them to lift the anxiety and lift the emotion.
"I’ve said about being cold in a title run in, and I just think there’s an element of emotion. Xhaka at Anfield, Partey losing his form in games and getting caught on the ball in difficult moments, and then from that moment it’s become very tough for them. Mentally it’s caused them a big issue in the last few weeks."
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