Former Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant has told BetBrain that he believes if the Gunners fail to win the Premier League this season, it will have lasting impacts on the players, manager and fans, and further hinder their chances of winning silverware next season.
“If Arsenal don’t win the league, they will be scarred,” he said. “To have been 12 points clear and not win the title… it will have lasting effects on the club.
Given that the Gunners have been unsuccessful in their attempt to win glory in the top flight, this would be yet another frustrating end of the season. At the moment of this interview, they’re also in the Champions League semi-final, which places additional pressure on their schedule. This level of physical and mental pressure is far from free spins, but rather hardships that can cost Arsenal their entry into next season.
“Next season, they can start strongly again and be top of the league in January, but when they get to the last 15 games of the season, they’ll start to get flashbacks of their previous shortcomings. Once that feeling creeps in, their confidence will waver, and it will change how they play in games.
It's also a matter of not taking advantage of the actual opportunity. Given that their rivals will be constantly trying to gain an edge and bring in new players, Arsenal’s chances of maintaining their status as one of the best teams in the Premier League are far from a no deposit bonus.
“It will also affect Mikel Arteta; he will go into games with more apprehension in an attempt to avoid defeat rather than chasing the win. Some of Arteta’s methods of distracting the team from the situation they're facing are making things more difficult. For example, trying to cut out the noise by wheeling out big screens on the training ground is just drawing more attention to them.
Pennant alludes to Arsenal’s occasional lack of focus in the biggest moments of the season, one that our readers may recall from our interview with Emmanuel Petit in 2024, as part of the BetBrain blog initiative. This level of fall-off builds upon itself with physical wear, but also constant cases that seem to indicate the lack of mental fortitude. There’s also the issue of outsider noise:
“You’ve also got the media and the fans on your back, because they’ve been there and know the story. Each time they come up short, it makes the next attempt that much more challenging."
As things stand right now, hope is far from being lost, but such a scare can either prove insurmountable or yet another chapter in Arsenal’s story of reclaiming top silverware.
