And Alan Smith, who won it twice with Arsenal, is with us here in the studio. Golden boot winner in both of those seasons. What does it mean to watch Arsenal do this after 22 years? Yeah, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? In a way, it doesn’t feel like it because the Arsene Wenger years still feel fairly close when they won it, but um, brilliant. Brilliant.
Fully deserved it. Obviously, they’ve had moments in the last few seasons where they’ve come second, but they’ve been, you know, you deserve to win it if you finish top. They’ve had the best defence. They haven’t had the best attack. You’d probably say City have the best attack, but uh, as an overall unit, you know, Mikolet has done brilliantly.
And yeah, really pleased for my old club. Not quite the excitement of 89, but the players, the man, they won’t care less, will they? No, I mean in 91 we won it with one game to go, and then we played Man United and then Comry, actually, we had two games to go. So, it’s always nice. I was worried about that game at Crystal Palace.
Everyone said, “Oh, you know, they’ve got a European final three days after.” I thought, “No, you don’t need to be getting something from there.” So pleased. It’s been such an interesting season for Arsenal. They start off, everybody’s got high hopes. They hope that they’re going to be able to build on some close finishes in the past, and they had this reputation, I think probably undeserved, because they never really had it in their hands before now, but they had this reputation of maybe bottling it at the.
Arsenal have been crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years.
difficult moments, having lost to Manchester City and having City in their hands. Does this feel like something that Arsenal have overcome an extra hurdle that they’ve managed to come back from? Yeah, they have, haven’t they? I mean, there’s been some painful moments to watch at times.
I mean, I was at the Bournemouth game, actually, just watching, uh, not working the Bournemouth game at the Emirates, when Arsenal was so poor and at that stage, you thought, “Oh no, they’re going to mess it up again, you know.”But uh, I mean, the Burnley game as well the other night.. God, you’re thinking, I mean, there’s bound to be nerves after so many years.
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We had it, I mean, going back to ‘ 89, our last two home games. We lost to Derby at home. We drew with Wimbledon in the last game of the season at home, and we’ve waved to the fans saying, ” Oh, thanks, but we couldn’t quite get over the line. Then we went up to Liverpool. But you’re going to have nervous moments when you haven’t won it for that long, and they have had them.
But you know, hopefully, now moving forward, they can play with freedom and add to the squad. Champions League final coming up. Who knows now? That feels a bit easier now, doesn’t it? Not easier against PSG. Competition for Arsenal this season has been strange because, for many players, it is the absolute pinnacle, yet the pressure has been off in that regard.
Yeah, they’ve had some really good performances, haven’t they? Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, you know, really scored goals, opened up, and so that’s going to be mouth-throbbing, but it’s a free hit. It’s a free hit, but to do this, you know, this season, yeah, I’m. Could you believe that they could do it when they lost to Man City at the Etihad? I always thought it would be close because it wasn’t about performance, Michael, was it at City, and they came out and they, you know, they gave it a good shot. Um, but they’ve got this.
great ability to keep a clean sheet and nick a goal. um bit of the old one, nil to the ass coming back, but uh yeah, he’s he’s a he is a fine coach. Sometimes you’d want him to just be a bit more expansive. Uh, but it’s a means to an end. You know, he’s done the trick. On our maybe-not questions being asked of him, there certainly would have been if they hadn’t got over the line this season, but he’s been adamant, and the word from the club has been that he’s been building.
Arsenal players celebrate
Each season has been an improvement on the one before, and this was bound to come at some stage. Did you feel that? Did you feel that confidence, and did you see that progress under our Yeah, I did. It was just whether they could hold the nerve when City are breathing down the necks, you know, and whether they would, you know, crumble and not perform.
So, they have been getting better. You know, they added to the squad last summer. Yarez has scored his goals. He probably hasn’t been fully convinced as an Arsenal centre forward, but he’s notched some important ones. We’ve spoken about the depth of the squad all season, you know, and they have had injuries.
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They’ve been able to fill in for those injuries. Uh, and that squad strength, I think, has really helped them and maybe got them over the line. Obviously, they’re going to want to celebrate this Premier League title. They’ve got the game this weekend. They’ll be able to celebrate at Crystal Palace.
I’m sure they’ll have the opportunity to celebrate with their own fans as well, but as you said, there is potentially another piece of silverware for Arsenal. They could be winning the Champions League by the end of the season. If they do that, this would be an extraordinarily successful season. Ian Wright said he feels this could be one of the greatest Arsenal sides if they win both trophies.
I mean, on performance and, uh, trophies alone, Arsenal have never done it. UH never won the European Cup or Champions League. So to win the league and that double would be unprecedented. You know, it was interesting watching Monday Night Football and Patrick Vieira and Jamie talking about which players would make the Invincibles, and there are a few who would.
You know, one or two defenders, the keeper obviously, Henry and Bur camp aren’t going to get me replaced. Uh, but uh, they’re not as good as that team, I don’t think, as a whole. But, um, certainly in terms of being able to keep those clean sheets, they’re in a great position now going forward, uh, they really are, and you’d love to see them add some more quality in the forward positions.
I think that’s where they need to do it. They’ve got great coverage in defence. Maybe another midfielder, but uh, they should have the money to do it as well. So all eyes are on Arsenal now. Yeah, and like you say, they don’t need to be the greatest Arsenal team ever. They just need to be the best team in the Premier League over the course of 38 games.
