Three keys to success in 2022/23: Arsenal
By Joel Edkins
This series will take you through each Premier League team offering the three key factors in overseeing their success in the 2022/23 season starting with Arsenal.
2021/22 will be remembered as a ‘nearly’ season for Arsenal, and perhaps unfairly so. After sustaining their most believable fight for Champions League qualification in recent years, a dip late on robbed Mikel Arteta of his graduation day as a fully-fledged manager.
Feelings of déjà vu no doubt haunted their supporters who have become accustomed to being a target for jeers from their perceived rivals in the ‘big 6’.
However, the campaign didn’t have a familiar sense – not of late at least – with the Gunners armed with a vigour that eclipsed any representatives of the club since before even Arsene Wenger’s departure.
Bukayo Saka epitomised this. The academy graduate played with an arrogance that when 1v1 with his opponent, there’d only be one winner. His form led to being one of only two players nominated for Premier League Young Player and Player of the Season respectively.
Ben White and Gabriel Magalhães formed a resolute partnership flanked by Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu. The latter’s injury woes were a causal factor in their side’s demise late on and highlighted a factor which forced Arsenal to remain grounded.
Gabriel Martinelli came of age somewhat and while Emile Smith Rowe started the season brightly – notching 7 goals and 2 assists in 11 games at a point – his impact curtailed.
The North London side ended on their best points tally during Mikel Arteta’s tenure by eight points and in finishing fifth improved significantly on the eighth-place finishes during his first two attempts.
That being said, complacency did set in for the Spaniard’s side with the three consecutive losses to Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton proving to be the dagger through the heart of their top-four hopes.