Arsenal will end the season without any silverware after being knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal 3-1 over two legs, ending the Gunners’ dreams of winning their first trophy since their FA Cup triumph in 2020.
Mikel Arteta’s team will now fight to keep hold of second place in their remaining three Premier League fixtures.
The season has fizzled out and will ultimately be looked at as one that got away from Arteta’s outfit, with some level of pressure on the Spaniard now developing.
Ian Wright says Arsenal haven’t gone backwards
Arteta felt Arsenal were the better team against PSG, with the Gunners amassing more than three expected goals in the second leg against the Ligue 1 giants.
However, they didn’t take their chances and ultimately returned from Paris with little left to play for in their season.
Despite being on course for a significantly lower points tally than the previous two campaigns, Arsenal legend Ian Wright doesn’t believe the club have regressed.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Wright defended Arteta.
“No, course we haven’t [gone backwards with no UCL win],” the pundit said.
“How can we go backwards? How can it go back with everything that’s happened with the injuries and what he’s trying to do?
“People say ‘oh you can’t say injuries’, but what he’s trying to do with that team and what he’s tried to do, I think the summer before they maybe didn’t recruit well enough, but up to this point with the players he’s got…”
Ian Wright is correct about Arsenal’s season
Wright’s defence of Arteta is entirely justifiable.
Arsenal were tactically excellent against PSG, and they merely lacked the forward talent to capitalise on their dominance in the final third.
The Gunners’ coach set his team up in a way that should have led to them progressing to the final, and that’s despite playing without a recognised striker and without their best defender.
As for the league season, Arsenal have been plagued by injury issues and received five red cards in what has been a campaign marred by mitigating factors.
Recent domestic form has clearly dipped as a result of focusing on the Champions League, although it’s impossible to fairly assess the Gunners without taking into consideration the set of circumstances that have gone against them.
Arteta will no doubt be frustrated with how the season has panned out, but to suggest Arsenal’s entire trajectory as a club is now on the wrong track because of this year is dishonest.
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