‘RIDICULOUS!’ Can Arsenal & Arteta be CRITICISED if they fail to win the Premier League? | ESPN FC 

People aren’t talking about how Man City had to go on their greatest ever unbeaten run just to be two points ahead of Arsenal

I don't know why everyone continue to associate Arsenal with the word bottle, but Liverpool is let off the hook

Sorry, you cannot be labelled "bottler" with 89 points

only trolls say arsenal have bottled the league. Their record since christmas is fantastic, city. even more so.

Liverpool were 5 points clear in February with the easiest run it but the question is if Arsenal bottled the league. Thats it. Im off the internet.

If you tend to use the term bottled then you cant be taken serious!

Unfortunately for Liverpool and Arsenal,they are doing well in the era of City' s dominance

See how the media is quiet about liverpool .

the term 'bottle' is just the trending word of the times, people will use it anytime anywhere to feel relevant and get under people's skin, as an arsenal fan, I think you could argue that the use of the term 'bottle' was warranted last season despite the expectations at the start of the season and the fact that this man city side is the best ever team in the epl (because we were so many points clear and we crumbled at the end of the season), this season we did not 'bottle' anything

People have no clue what the term bottle even means anymore . How can you bottle something you’re not expected to win ?

No, Arsenal hasn’t. But Liverpool did bottle it.

lol I love the bottle word. It helps me know who is having a serious football conversation and who isn’t.

No one is talking about Liverpool who were on top with 8 points

"There's something missing at Arsenal" My question is would that statement hold true if Son scored at Spurs or if City slip up on Sunday? It's just small margins not necessarily anything missing at this point. Last season yes, there was something missing. This season no.

Liverpool bottled the league not Arsenal. You can't say Liverpool are a better team going forward than Arsenal. That's not true.

He says “you haven't won the Premier League” ? Its not over yet. Its not over till its over.

VAR bottled it. They robbed Arsenal of a point each at Newcastle and Villa

Missing timber early on was unfortunate

If losing 1 game in the premier League in 2024 is considered bottling then idk

Where was this headline when Liverpool crashed out of the title race? Very weird

No, the Gunners have been the best team of this season, except they lost to Villa at home which was such a decisive game. I am a United supporter but I have to say Arteta and his team can hold their heads up no matter they win the league or not.

Btw, Arsenal has had the most difficult run of games in the last couple of weeks from the front three teams this season. Liverpool had the “easiest “ run and nobody is talking about them throwing away the league. Credit to Arteta and all the Arsenal team. Whatever happens we keep our hunger and we eventually win the league.

There's nothing missing at Arsenal. Best defense and best attack in the EPL? Could they do with unlimited funding, maybe..but the team is solid. They're just up against a behemoth of a team with more experience at winning stuff. Every year Arsenal keeps learning and can only get better.

Nope, Arsenal totally bottled it. The fans were comparing and saying Arsenal is way better than Madrid because of a couple games😂

The criticism comes from deep hate, imagine being a Tottenham, United and Chelsea and talking rubbish about Arsenal 😂😂

To be fair, the abundance of American fans and coverage has dumbed down the convo.

What a ridiculous title, this is Arsenals statistically best ever season.

This shouldn’t even be a debate

I think some critics are looking for relevance. In the end there are 2 teams that had a good season and one got luckier

I would only say any team “bottled” it if they had everything going for them and there is no reasonable explanation on why they started dropping points. For Arsenal last year, the loss of Saliba was the end of it, it so dramatically changed how arsenal were at the back and less secure whilst also missing Thomas Partey quite a lot. For Liverpool this year, the injuries they had and to even be in the position they were was crazy winning week after week, when the bubble did eventually burst against United I feel that things finally caught up. When so many players come back after injury, it’s not the same level of cohesion and I almost feel Liverpool started getting too many players back at the same time. Neither team bottled it in my opinion. The whole bottled it narrative oversimplifies the actual analysis of what happened and fails to give credit where it’s due. Liverpool were so impressive this season and so was Arsenal.

arsenal is the only team put up a fight till the end while others team give up in the middle...how come ppl say arsenal bottled it mindblowing...or those ppl really wanna see epl become farming league like ligue1?

It's ridiculous to say they 'bottled it'. Then does every team that finishes second or third in every league every season be labelled as bottlers? If they are called bottlers then what do you call Liverpool when they suffered a complete meltdown in the last two months. Arsenal dropped points only twice in the second half of the season, compared to dropping points 8 games in 2023. If anything they had overachieved in 2024 by digging themselves out from behind the pack to top the table for a very short period of the season. The reason you think they 'bottled it' was because the table always showed Arsenal in lead for long periods but again that is only because the City always had games in hand under the schedule. If City and Arsenal had their matches in sync, the table would show City in the lead most of the time and Arsenal doing the chasing.

Talking about unfortunate schedules, look at the UCL-PL-UCL schedule of the last three years for Man City. Way tougher. Good teams make it happen no matter what

Last season the main reason was the Saliba injury, the defense fell apart and they lacked the depth needed. This year is just very small margins between them and City, could have gone either way.

They love to associate Arsenal with negative headlines to get views.

This is ridiculous; How can Arsenal be ridiculed. A team that made the title challenge looked better than other leagues which already have their winners? Only a small minded fellow will see it as if Arsenal bottled it. What did Arsenal bottled? Losing to Aston Villa is normal and then continues to to win the rest of their matches with this form and losers think what? Bottling? Like those are real haters of Arsenal. Kudos to them (Arsenal)

They just described the definition of bottling. 😂

They haven’t done anything that Poch’s Tottenham haven’t. And Tottenham and Poch get nothing but criticism.

Fulham at home was that game that lost us the league. Drawing with a team down to 10 men, leading after 80 mins should be played over and over again to these players as a reminder and motivation to win it next season.

If arsenal don’t sell players for more than £100M this summer and spend similarly to last summer + don’t win anything next season, they will have to sell key players, hence they will be were Chelsea are in terms of having to sell players in order to comply with FFP/PSR. Reasoning for this, due to Arsenal’s spending habits they’ve accumulated more than £55M loss every year Arteta have been in charge and more than £120M loss in the past 3 years. This is what needs to be discussed and spread around more.

Did Liverpool bottle the league? Weren’t they 5 points ahead? Didn’t Liverpool collapse? Man Utd knocked them out of FA Cup and they collapsed thereafter.

Lazy journalism with click bait headline

Still goes back to the Newcastle game and VAR decision that Joelinton "didn't foul the defender by climbing on his shoulders" to score. Fine margins meant there can't be a bottling.

Arsenal will finish 16-0-1 in 2024, 8 goals conceded. That's an amazing run. They just came up against a Man City machine in their run in since Dec.

"He shouldn't have let Odegaard take that picture, absolutely disgraceful." 😂😂😂

I have finally found a good sports podcast about the premier league. Credit to all of you, in particular to Harry. As an Arsenal supporter myself I am happy to also find a really good sport journalist that knows what is talking about my team. Everywhere else I can only see and hear biased comments and envy but in this podcast I truly see the truth. Keep the good work lads.

Flying kits situations son's intentional miss makes me feel different so that term bottled the league I never wanna hear that seriously I have seen some syndicate like situations as much I love the EPL

Arsenal were third favourites. Everyone had Liverpool winning the league and they've been irrelevant in this title race, yet no bottle tag. Anyone trying to label Arsenal bottlers are miserable, clueless and should watch another sport

Liverpool had it in their hands. Where is the debate on Klopp?

“Ran out of steam against villa” who also played in Europe that same week, who also beat Arsenal twice and beat Man City more comprehensively than any other team this season

Yes Jim! Get in there, ESPN dollaz coming your way. Good on ya.

With a win this Sunday, we will equal MCFC points from their winning season of 22/23. When you equal the winning tally from the previous season, how can anyone say it was a bottle?

There is always a microscope on Arteta on Arsenal.

Yes and it will keep going and going………….

James banging this Arsenal aren’t good in open play when they’ve got nearly 70 goals outside of set pieces, fucking every time he talks Arsenal he talks as if set pieces is everything

Arsenal is getting more criticism in the media for competing with City till the last day than Liverpool who spent the most time staying on the summit of the league and even Chelsea fans whose fans are celebrating being in the Top 6 are bantering Arsenal. Quite the conundrum.

They took 4 of 6 points from City, 4 of 6 from Liverpool, Villa was their kryptonite this year.

Does that mean that every team who tops the table have "bottled" it. After 1 game, 10, 30? This is crazy. At least they have got close. United, Chelsea, Liverpool have spent fortune's and not got close.

They did. It’s okay. They’re set up well for the future

why City get away with all those charges? totally unfair for the rest.

Well it could be Harry's kids fault...

What is the purpose of this debate?

YES!

Clive Palmer getting a mention.

Liverpool not being asked how and why, with salah and klopp and leading the league by 5 expecting to go 8 clear when they played arsenal are now 8pts behind? Did Liverpool with all their experience bottle the league and Europa? Or is it only a new manager to be discussed?

Whoever says Arsenal bottled the league are the ones who mothers bottled, not swallowing them 🎉

This should never be a question. They just hate arsenal

They didn’t fail, City has basically 2 starting squads in the team and win the last 50 games of the season since they have breached tons of financial rules and they’ve been able to build a squad beyond everyone Look at Liverpool, who actually loses a title in any other league with 97 pts?

“Bottling” is just obviously a troll word. You could level it at every team that came second or worse in history by only focusing on moments where a team didn’t take maximum points. Football is getting boring, particularly fans.

He should have tried to win the Fa Cup or league cup to get the winning mentality before the

How could a disappointment is not on the EPL? Are you kidding, 115.

They bottled it last year didn’t this year - but didn’t go for it and risk it as much as could’ve ie played by or 0-0 v city as opposed to going for win

You have to be there to have a chance

Thought arsenal would fade like last season, but they have been great this season got there best points total and went far in Europe. Think it's crazy saying arsenal didn't have a great season.

last season they deserved to be criticised, they were 10 points ahead and were top for 90% of the season and completely fell apart towards the end, this season they have improved a lot, but once again have just about fell short, you could say they bottled it when they lost at home to Aston Villa, but this season i dont think they have bottled it, they have pushed Man City all season, Man City are just a machine regardless, Man City win because of their experience and consistency over the years, you have to be consistent throughout the whole season to somehow get ahead of Man City, Arsenal could finish with 100 points while Man City could finish with 102 points, thats just how good they are

No thats absurd

Yes

Everything u said was bang on until u slid in the bit about Odegaard shouldn't have taken the pic and that it was disgraceful... U all need to grow up and get over it 😂😂😂

Arsenal had the hardest running, after last season people said that was arsenal's best chance to win the league even when they were not predicted to challenge, Liverpool actually bottled the league because they had the easiest running. And if people are saying arsenal bottled the league this season why didn't they say the same to klopp who lost the league twice on the last day?

Without Arsenal in the headline theen no traction

NO, NEVER. We are glad we are here where we are.

Liverpool were the ones that spectacularly bottled the title, but no one wants to say it.

Adjusted for games played, Arsenal have the most points of any team in the Premier League in 2024...yet people still want to say Arsenal bottled it. That's crazy! What happened is that Arsenal had a very slight wobble before the winter break so they went into 2024 5-8 points down from the leaders.

Ignorant ppl criticising a better person at football. so u devote a whole show about irrelevant narratives!

If Arsenal is criticise for bottle the league and except for liverpool then the rest of the 17 team is what? they can't even see the bottle, somtimes ppl have to be realistic there only one team that can win it.

RIDICULOUS indeed. Liverpool bottled it with a 5 point lead and no one is talking about that. Arsenal still needs 1 or 2 more players to compete and be more competitive next season. 89 points and bottled the league.? goshhh.

Arsenal new motto: How we pushed them all the way

The weekend of the Aston villa game, it was in the hands of Liverpool. Even you people who discuss the topic are trying to disrespect arsenal. Why don't you discuss bottling of Liverpool because they were leading during the weekend of Aston villa game and they took spent lots of money

We cup, plate, and bottle it out to city last season, but this season no

Hang on a minute. Im sure Liverpool were favourites a couple of months ago. But they get a pass. Arsenal takes City to game week 38 and are bottlers? Jesus christ 😂

Welcome to liverpool fan club and enjoy frustration that we experienced in last 5 seasons

The difference city unbeaten in 35 games 😂

2pts ? City have beaten Pool by 19,9,1,17 an im sure Chelsea bt Rotters by 9ish pts about 7yrs ago an all the runner-up were lauded so why is it only Arsenal who r critiqued? Pool were ontop from December -March an all pundits said Arsenal had no chance of winning it from the end of last season and especially due t them having the hardest run-in,so u can't bottle what you were not expected to win

Silly clickbait. Liverpool BOTTLED it not Arsenal. Man City have had to go on their longest unbeaten run in history just to have their noses ahead of the Arsenal in the run-in and yet you choose to gaslight fans with this nonsense caption? nah nah y'all silly.

City spent 9 game weeks on top Liverpool spent 12 game weeks on top Arsenal spent 11 game weeks on top So Arsenal actually spent the second longest on top

8:18 Once Pep leave City, Arsenal is the natural heir. Oh, come on! As if the footballing world exist in a vacuum. Lots of things could happen IF Pep decides to leave City: Arsenal could be declining by then; Other teams could rise up to challenge City just like Arsenal did last season.

Let's not gloss over the fact that Arteta splashed £700 million over five years to win just one FA Cup. And now, here you are, *trophyless for the second straight season* despite hovering in the top 2 for so long. Bottle FC

Like a big man with a life has got time to listen to outsiders who would say yeah sack your manager next week they would be asking for him to come to there club .. 🤡 they call them ..

They've lost *ONE* game in 2024. They've set a club record for most wins in a season. Still not enough. Of course they haven't bottled it. City have just raised the bar to a level that's hard for anyone else to match.

No comment that in between villa game we had bayren....city get luton....