Piers Morgan has called out Arsenal’s players for bottling the Premier League following a “dire” performance against Nottingham Forest.
The Gunners handed the title to Manchester City on Saturday evening by losing 1-0 at Forest, who ensured their survival with three points. Arsenal have now taken just nine points from a possible 24 over the past eight games, while City are on an 11-game winning streak.
That contrast in form has seen Pep Guardiola’s side ease past Arsenal to secure a fifth title in the past six seasons. Arsenal’s wait for a first title since the 2003/04 season goes on and Morgan is not happy, insisting that their collapse over the past few months are worthy of the title of bottling it.
He tweeted: “ Aaron Ramsdale, who I love as a player with a proper winner’s mentality, insists it’s unfair to say Arsenal have bottled the League. But what else do we call what’s happened in the past few weeks? This is another dire display against a less talented team who just want it more.”
His comments are a continuation of his anger over his side’s recent performances. After their 3-0 home defeat by Brighton last weekend, Morgan went on a rant on Twitter. “All over,” he tweeted. "Totally outplayed by a team that just lost 1-5 to Everton.
"A horribly lacklustre, passion-devoid, spiritless, pathetic performance that cements an inexplicably dismal run-in to a season which promised so much. Bottom line: we choked. #afc."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Have Arsenal "bottled" the title race? Comment below.
BT Sport presenter Jake Humphrey tweeted: “I hate this narrative that Arsenal bottled it. They have pushed one of the PL’s greatest ever teams all the way, and done it with a young coach and young players who finished 5th last season. It’s nothing but a success. They fell short, they’ll be stronger for it.”
Morgan replied: “It’s not ‘success’ to be 8pts clear, then fail to win two consecutive games when we were 2-0 up, go 2-0 down in 10 mins at home to the worst team in the League, get humiliated at City, & surrender in a pitiful manner to Brighton at home today. It’s failure, and we bottled it.”
Morgan’s opinion is a huge contrast to former Arsenal defender Tony Adams, who was keen to put a positive spin on their achievements this season. “A lot of credit’s got to be given to the Arsenal, they’ve had a fantastic season where just at the end of the day they’ve run out of resources,” he said on Sky Sports.
“We’ve got a couple people out of form and our back-up players – to win titles you need great back-up people, good assistance. My four titles, we always had someone that could come in if you were injured – Martin Keown used to be my stunt man – he used to come in and do the job for me.”
