Arsenal and Arteta’s biggest test is yet to come – just ask Guardiola | Football | Sport
It’s a feeling everyone involved with the Gunners will no doubt be wishing they could bottle up. They’ve got the taste for it now, and in 10 days’ time will be hoping to do the same after the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest.
But Arteta will soon find out that the hardest part is yet to come. Winning a title is one thing, but building a dynasty is another. It’s something Arsenal know too well.
Their latest triumph is their fourth in the Premier League era, but the Gunners have never managed to go back-to-back. Arsene Wenger came closest in the late 1990s, when Arsenal, as reigning champions, finished one point behind Manchester United during the 1998/99 season.
Arteta will have seen firsthand just how difficult it is to go back-to-back from his time working as Pep Guardiola’s understudy. Having waltzed to the title in 2017/18, setting a record 100 points tally along the way, City’s defence in 2018/19 hit a roadblock around January time, with Liverpool threatening to pull clear.
After their fourth defeat in nine games away to Newcastle, Guardiola read the riot act to the City players. Guardiola felt his players were too complacent and believed their own hype too much. There wasn’t a hunger to defend the title they’d won in such emphatic fashion a few months earlier.
They responded, winning 14 consecutive Premier League matches to secure the title ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on the final day of the season. But finding the motivation to go again isn’t the only issue Arteta could run into.
After the Spaniard had left City, Guardiola had to deal with a dressing room at odds with each other, despite having won the 2020/21 Premier League title that same season. Reports from the time claimed several key players were unhappy with their situation at the club and were pushing for moves away.
The moral of the story is, no matter how good that winning feeling tastes now, it doesn’t last forever. Arteta can bask in the glory of Arsenal’s first title in 22 years, but the real work is only just beginning.