“Is this a collapse? Arsenal have lost/are losing/will lose the league because they dropped nine points in four games across 17 days in April, when they kept scoring but just couldn’t keep them out. They collapsed/choked/lacked character because the squad wasn’t deep enough to allow for the loss of a key defender, because their best attacking players have no rotational backup and have grown weary in the last few weeks of an endless season. Above all they are an ordinary, mortal, very good team. As opposed to a generational winning machine treading its own path towards something entirely new. Near-perfection is the standard now. City have completed their 11th straight league win, doing all this at a point in the season when your average stretched and faltering champion team starts to tie up and feel the burn.“
Good article on how we didn’t “bottle it.” We just weren’t close enough to perfect.
Yet.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/may/14/arsenal-brighton-manchester-city-premier-league