Michail Antonio has warned that Arsenal could be in for a difficult title defence next season.
And to some extent, history is on his side.
Speaking on the FilthyFellas podcast, the former West Ham striker didn’t hold back.
“Ninety percent, they are not gonna win the league next year. If you think about it, the bounce back hardly happens,” Antonio said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish eighth next year. It happens a lot. It happened to Chelsea, it’s happened to Liverpool.
🏆 Fill in the blank: I am ___% confident Arsenal can retain our Premier League title next season…
“I’m not saying they will finish eighth next year, but the bounce back year, teams struggle, especially next year when teams will be on them at corners and that.”
Arsenal’s set-piece dominance is well established. The Gunners scored 19 Premier League goals from corners this season, the most in the competition’s history.
Antonio expects that opponents will be better prepared to deal with that threat next year, and he may be right.
Teams adapt, coaches adapt, but none more so than Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
History suggests the title defence is Arsenal’s toughest challenge yet
Antonio’s broader point about the challenge of retaining the title is hard to dismiss.
Manchester City under Pep Guardiola are the only side to have retained the Premier League title in the last 17 seasons.
Before that, it was last achieved by Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, who won it three times in a row between 2006 and 2009.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have never retained the title in the Premier League era.
And you only need to look as far as last season for a great example of the kind of capitulation Antonio describes.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool finished fifth this season, 24 points fewer than their title-winning campaign last year.
Jose Mourinho was sacked the season after leading Chelsea to the title, and the club finished tenth on 50 points.
Leicester’s unforgettable 2016 title win was followed by a middling 12th-place finish the following season.
Arsenal fans should not be too concerned by Michail Antonio’s prediction
While Antonio may have a point, his throwaway eighth-place prediction is, of course, deliberately provocative.
Arsenal have just won the Premier League by a significant seven-point margin — it should have been more, really — and are preparing for a Champions League final.
This is our Arsenal XI for the Champions League final vs PSG. What changes would you make?
The infrastructure, the squad depth and the manager are all in place.
What separates Arsenal from those cautionary tales is continuity.
Arteta has been building this project for almost seven years now. The evidence is there — this is not a one-season miracle but a sustained rise.
The summer transfer window, with Andrea Berta leading the recruitment, will determine how well equipped they are to defend the title.
But finishing eighth? Arsenal fans can file that one away with a smile.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
