“We are Arsenal Football Club, we have to be here to win every single trophy.”
The words of Mikel Arteta after being asked whether criticism of finishing behind Manchester City lacks the context of what they’re up against. His rousing words will surely come as encouragement to supporters who for too long have felt that Arsenal have not been achieving things to the standard that has been set by their historical standing.
Arteta’s former manager and mentor Arsene Wenger once said that fourth place in the Premier League table was a trophy. Something which he stood by and later many people reflected on after Arsenal spent successive seasons outside the Champions League as having some genuine weight to it.
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However, Arsenal under Arteta are very different. The expectations have been raised and not as a consequence of their surprise title race this season, those inside the club have been thinking beyond just Champions League qualification before the hint of a comfortable route back into the top four presented itself during the current campaign.
Mohamed Elneny said in Germany after the Gunners’ friendly win over Nurnberg that they would be going for the title. Sporting director Edu Gaspar told football.london himself that the expectation was for Arsenal not to settle for the Champions League but to instil a mentality to go for the biggest trophies in the game.
"Talk to Gabriel, talk to Zinchenko, talk to Fabio. [Points to head] Here is the win. Ah, Champions League, ok - I accepted that because I want to be realistic. But here [head], I want to win. A club like Arsenal, at our size, is not building to be fighting for fourth place. I’m sorry.
"We have to be realistic - there’s City, Liverpool etc - that’s fine, I accept that. But also, you can not accept that. Here, when you join this club, when you see our size, we cannot accept it.
"That’s why I was really really hurt when I arrived. I said: 'That’s not the mentality of this football club. What’s happening? Everybody’s comfortable, everybody’s ok, ok, ok… F*** you, ok! Ok?! No, I don’t want to lose games!' We have to be there again.
"And I want to see the physios, I want to see the scouting, I want to see everyone with that kind of feeling, where you say: 'F****** hell, now we are going to really go for things.' And I think we are changing. Again, it doesn’t happen overnight, but I think we are changing and putting some good mentality in the squad. Characters."
That is why when Arsenal achieve what they initially set out to, which was to progress and return to the Champions League, as the season develops and a chance at the title materialises, the possibility of finishing second feels to many like a failure. Similar to last season after spending so long in fourth spot, to lose it at the final hurdle again stings of disappointment and potential failure.
Changing sports but not topics, Milwaukee Bucks' defeat to the Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs spawned a viral interview with Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was asked whether the season had then been a 'failure'. His response has been adopted by many Arsenal supporters to provide potential context for the Gunners' season should they fail to beat Man City to the title.
"It's not a failure; it's steps to success," Antetokounmpo said. "There's always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years was a failure? That's what you're telling me?
"It's a wrong question; there's no failure in sports. There's good days, bad days. Some days you're able to be successful, some days you're not. Some days it's your turn, some days it's not your turn. And that's what sports is about. You don't always win. Sometimes other people win. And this year somebody else is going to win, simple as that."
Speaking to Mikel Arteta ahead of the match with Chelsea, football.london asked Arteta whether he agreed with this line of thinking regarding progression also equalling success. His response was telling.
"As a manager, I don’t want to be using those words," he said. "I know what we were trying to do, what the objective was what we’ve been doing and we still have the nicest part of the season to play with five games to go.
"But when I still look at it, this is not over you know? I would pay a lot of money to next season in this moment be in this position again, a lot, believe me, so I just want to maximise the moment we have right now and go for it."
This, I love. Whilst I do agree with Antetokounmpo and believe that the season from the outside can be seen as a success considering the progress the club has made, it is fantastic to see the mentality internally that is not satisfied with second place.
The context of both perspectives can exist at the same time whilst being somewhat contradictory. No one should be calling Arteta to be sacked, for example (although you would be hard-pressed to find some people doing so), because the season’s successful progression toward the ultimate goal has occurred.
However, to hear the frustration to again not overachieve and go one step beyond what was deemed plausible at the start of the season is the sign of a club not only on the up but one that’s fully focused on the task of doing whatever it takes to get there. It is something that perhaps Arteta can achieve where Wenger could no longer do so towards the end of his time with the club.
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