The prolonged 2022/23 season due to the World Cup being held in the winter was finally concluded on Sunday, 28 May 2023. We went close to winning the league, having spent 248 days at the top of the table. Yet we fell short in the end. Some, mainly rival fans, accused us of bottling it, but the truth is we simply ran out of steam when Man City found an extra gear. Doubters expected us to fall out of the title race when Gabriel Jesus came back injured from the World Cup. However, we kept our title challenge on track, with Eddie Nketiah stepping up in the Brazilian's absence. In addition, one of our three January signings, Leandro Trossard (Edu's masterstroke) provided more options to our attacking force. Expectations were raised as we approached the business end of the season still on top.
Our stumble in the final few weeks of the season has put a damper on an otherwise hugely impressive season. However, progression and improvement this season was clear for all to see. As supporters, we enjoyed the Gunners' free-flowing football for the majority of the season. The club record 103 goals in all competitions highlight that. Mikel Arteta summarised this season in one ward, "connection." The Emirates Stadium witnessed the loudest and most energetic atmosphere in its history. Many home fans claim that they have never seen a more frenzied scene than they did in our dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Bournemouth. Bringing the connection between supporters and the Club back was arguably the biggest feat that Arteta has achieved this season. It took him 3 full seasons to get here, by removing divisive players, such as Ozil and Aubameyang. The Spaniard has also played a significant part in turning around Xhaka's relationships with the Arsenal fans. In terms of results, we progressed from an 8th to 2nd finish during his tenure so far.
Many pundits and journalists attributed our struggle towards the end of the season to William Saliba's injury. To make it worse, it came at the same time as Tomiyasu's season-ending injury (In fact, both happened in the same game against Sporting Lisbon). We might have been able to cope with Saliba's absence alone, by simply moving Ben White back to his familiar centre-back position. However, with Cedric Soares having already been loaned out to Fulham, White had to continue as our only senior right-back. Holding initially deputised for Saliba and performed the task to his best ability. But with Gabriel having to cover a vast area which Zinchenko frequently vacated, Holding's lack of pace was often exposed. It was difficult to fill the void Saliba had left without changing tactics, which Arteta refused to do. Even after an injury to Zinchenko, Arteta persisted in his style of play rather than playing on the strength of Kieran Tierney.
There is no denying that consistency in our early form can be largely attributed to stability in the starting XI, which helped grow cohesion and chemistry between players. However, going forward, we need more depth in squad quality and rotation to keep the squad fresh towards the end of a long season, something which we should learn from Pep Guadiola's approach. When our regular starters were injured, our back-up players proved to be significant downgrades or terribly out of form due to limited playing time.
