Premier League: Were Arsenal Bottlers or Champions in Waiting? By Ugoji Egbujo

Arsenal had amassed more points than any other club in England over the last three seasons, yet they were still branded losers and bottlers. In a world of fickle metrics, success is measured in the harshest, most linear way possible. And  winners take all.

Clubs pumped up on financial steroids can despite 115 overdue  charges, spend  stupendously and still dominate, while ethical excellence is ignored. If football truly embodied the spirit of sportsmanship and discernment, three consecutive runner-up finishes built on vision, youth development, and organic growth would be worthy of veneration . It would be  a model for every club to emulate. But no. It’s the title or nothing. So Chelsea fans are earnestly  yearning for the return of Abramovich and mad Russian money .

Not even a strong second-place finish in the UEFA Champions League would have earned Arsenal respect. Pundits and mockers would have pointed to Aston Villa lifting the Europa League — the less lustrous  trophy that relegation-threatened Tottenham won last season — and declared they had the better campaign. Some Arsenal fans, swallowing the lie that something magical beyond consistent near-perfection is required to finish first, would have joined the chorus and sang  “Arteta out.”

In 2023/2024, Arsenal won 16 of their last 18 matches, lost only once, and still finished second by just two points — yet they were called bottlers. If Tottenham’s Son had produced the moment Eli Junior Kroupi delivered in 2026 during the penultimate round of fixtures, Arsenal would have been crowned champions two years earlier. In a sport that measures success so crudely, tangible hard work can still leave you the butt of jokes of both the experts and the jesters.  The real problem isn’t the thin margins that decide victories and fates , it’s the result-biased expert analyses that have  crystalized a winner tame all culture . 

While other managers crumbled under fans’ and owners’ demands for instant results, Arsenal stuck to their guns and their process. In a saner world, that diligent, ethical approach would be preached from pulpits. Because process matters. A good name and sustained hard work, especially in sport, should be as precious as gold. Instead, Arsenal became the byword for serial failure. Arteta has confessed his ordeal . It  got to him and his family.  So while he put up a brave face for the public,  his wife helped him at home nurse his heart and  overcome his doubts.

Attention-seeking prophets declared the club cursed. In Africa, the virtue of toil and sustained struggle has been demonised.  A  farcical concept of “grace” that breeds daydreaming, wishful thinking, and sudden-success syndrome is the vogue . With Arsenal these prophets saw neither meticulous organisation nor steady organic growth. They saw gestation as frustration and patient development as stagnation or flawed destiny. Some even suggested Arteta should fly to Africa for “deliverance” or Arsenal would never win. Football prophets sprouted everywhere. Pastors are free to banter, but they should know that false prophecies — even when cheered by gullible congregations — do real harm to Christianity at large.

Ordinarily, Arsenal should have been celebrated as the gold standard of rebuilding with vision and resilience before this victory . Instead, they were cited out of context and mocked. They had to confront clubs bankrolled by oil-rich Arab nations, armed with the world’s best players and manager. They had to defy referees who reinforced the myth that Arsenal were “too soft” by allowing opponents to kick and punch them with impunity. 

In that pivotal match against West Ham, had VAR buckled under pressure and upheld the late goal against Arsenal, the title race might have slipped away. Belief would have evaporated, Manchester City would have been energised, and pundits would have rushed to label it another example of “weak mentality.” Most analysis fed to the public is superficial and result-biased. But too many pundits are keen to regurgitate stereotypes.   Arsenal would have been decorated with  every pejorative while experts performed their armchair psychoanalysis. 

The set-piece mastery, the defensive steel, and the mindfulness to squeeze out every extra edge that Mikel Arteta instilled should have earned him praise long before the title arrived. Yet he was vilified. Some even accused him of “killing football” by sharpening his team’s set-piece prowess — as if exploiting a legitimate  advantage the game itself designed as  reward was somehow unfair. Arsenal deserve accolades for finding a way through pure hard work.

The world must relearn delayed gratification. Instant-success syndrome is poisoning football. Managers are recycled furiously by impatient owners and fans, sending the message that winning at all costs is the only metric. Clubs must be allowed to build culture and vision. Sport should inspire persons and teams to aspire to excellence, but the reward system itself needs urgent re-evaluation. Football should teach .

Arsenal’s victory should now serve as the template. It was earned the right way — no financial steroids, just vision, pain, gestation, and finally glory.

Football is not mere sport. It is global culture. It’s shared pain, and shared joy. English football has become part of people’s well-being even in the Congo, South Sudan and Phillipines. The Prime Minister of England and fish farmers in Uganda,  we now know, have  found their happiness tied to the fortunes of one club in North London. The cathartic  celebrations that erupted after Arsenal’s triumph deserve to be studied. Arsenal parades in remote communities across distant countries. Pastors revealing they had been praying and fasting for Arsenal.  It’s not frivolity. It’s deep attachment.  Football can be a sociological tool , used to instill values and reform  humanity.  

Second- place and third-place finishers deserve silver and bronze trophies. Football punditry requires more mental rigour and balanced objective minds.

So no, Arsenal were never bottlers. They were champions in waiting — living proof that patience, culture, and ethical hard work can still triumph in a world that screams “win at all costs.”

COYG. The wait is over.  The steeets are our own. Let’s do it back-to-back-to-back.

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