The North London “bottlejob” tradition continues ?
Think back to the 2015/2016 season, more specifically May 2nd 2016. If you need reminding, that was the day of the now infamous “Battle at the Bridge”. At half time, Tottenham found themselves 2–0 up vs Chelsea thanks to goals from their dynamic duo, Harry Kane and Hueng Min Son. In cruise control, they looked poised to defeat a Chelsea side who were sitting and would end the season in 10th, in what would end up as their worst ever Premier League campaign to date. A victory for Spurs would cut Leicester’s lead at the helm of the table to 5 points with 2 games remaining, however, there’s a saying in football “the only thing more dangerous than a 1 goal lead is a 2 goal lead”.
The second half saw a completely different complexity and temperament to that of the first.The tenacity,competitiveness and subsequent ambivalence circumvented the glaring skill and chemistry gap between the two sides. Spurs got sucked in, completely forgot who they had been for the majority of that season and psychologically caved, which all culminated in Eden Hazard scoring one of his and the Premier League’s most memorable goals in recent history in the 82nd minute. The game ended 2–2, Leicester were champions and Spurs were bottlers. Now, in my opinion, only 2 of those 3 statements asserted are absolute. The game did end 2–2 and Leicester were in fact champions but were Spurs actually bottlers ?
Fast forward to 2023 and Tottenham’s fiercest rivals, Arsenal, are currently top of the table and playing the most attractive and expansive football in the division. Although they lack the refinement and maturity that can be seen in their co-title contenders Manchester City, for much of the season, they have circumvented this caveat by means of unwavering confidence, bravery and an unrelenting level of perseverance. Despite their incredible progress over the season, The Gunners have seen their grip on the title loosened in recent weeks with 3 draws on the trott, 2 of which have been against bottom 6 opposition.
And with the colossal clash against perennial champions Manchester City looming, in which a victory for the Noisy Neighbours would result in the title being entirely in their hands, the question permeating throughout football spaces is “Did Arsenal bottle the league?”. Since assuming their position at the top of the division in matchweek 3, the only matchweek that culminated in Arsenal not topping the table was in matchweek 23, and even then that was due to having played a game less than City. The biggest lead Arsenal has enjoyed this season has been 8 points, although that was having played a game more than City. It is from these facts where the notion of an Arsenal bottlejob has credence. Objectively speaking, a team that has topped the table for 90% of the season with a consistent 5 point lead that capitulates and falls off of their perch in the final 6 games of the season HAS to be considered bottlers, right? While the facts of the matter are irrefutable and this school of thought is well founded, I offer an alternative suggestion, not as an Arsenal fan but an impartial analyst and proponent of context.
Let’s refer back to Spurs in 2015/2016. Tottenham topped the league for a total of zero weeks in that season and the closest they ever got to league leaders Leicester, was reducing the point differential to 2. If one were to apply the same objective criteria to Spurs in that season that one has to Arsenal this season, it would be impossible to label them as bottlejobs. However, the basis of the dogmatic perspective from the football world that Spurs bottled a league title opportunity in 2015/2016 can be found in the context of that season. While the greatness of a Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez or N’golo Kante cannot be disputed in 2023, if the same hindsight is used to highlight the rest of that Leceister team, their limitations become unavoidable. Of all the players in that team, other than the big 3, the only 1 you can look at and say “you objectively had a Premier League career worthy of a Premier League champion” is Kasper Schmeichel. As much as I love someone like Christian Fuchs, who I believe was an incredible professional and one of the most intelligent footballers in recent years, putting him in the same sentence as Ashley Cole, Patrice Evra and Dennis Irwin doesn’t sound quite right.
On the other hand, Spurs boasted arguably their second best ever side in the Premier League era that season and one that was objectively brilliant. They had the best centre half pairing in the division with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, a young and determined Harry Kane that would produce another incredible season as he continued to build his legend, a peak Christian Eriksen who was the second best playmaker in the league at that time, eventual PFA young player of the year, Dele Alli and, in my opinion, the most underrated midfielder of the 2010s, Mousa Dembele. The fact that Spurs couldn’t mount a significant title charge against a team that they were objectively better than in every metric and that their title charge fell apart at the hands of the second worst Chelsea team since 2004 is enough justification for the label of bottlers to stick.
The context of their failure provides the basis for this criticism. Arsenal, however, do not warrant the same level of criticism when the team’s credentials are taken into account. Arsenal are a team that was the youngest in the division and only lost that mantle with the signings of Trossard and Jorginho. Their last top 4 finish was in 2016 and the club wasn’t even considered a realistic top 4 contender by anyone other than their fans at the beginning of the season. Despite this, the club has mounted one of the most inspirational and fearless title charges since Leicester City all those seasons ago and has pushed a record breaking Manchester City to the last 6 games of the season, a club, need I remind you, that has won the League 4 times in the past 5 seasons.
The 2–0 leads Arsenal surrendered were opportunities wasted considering the favourable position they put themselves in but can be justified by Anfield and derby day tax, as well as my belief that those games were lost due to immaturity more so than pressure capitulation. The game vs Southampton, however, is one I qualify as bottling due to the fact that a home fixture against a bottom of the table club is a must win. Despite that, the competitiveness of the title race is a derivative of Manchester City’s brilliance more so than Arsenal bottling, and their scintillating form is testament of that fact. Whether or not you consider Arsenal bottlers will be a matter of which you prioritise, objectivity or context.
