Mikel Merino has identified the key difference between this Arsenal side and the teams that fell short in previous seasons.
Speaking on The Overlap, the Spanish midfielder was asked by Gary Neville what had changed this time around, having come so close in previous campaigns.
“This club has been so close for so many years,” Merino said. “And I think the big difference this season is that when tough times came — because always during the Premier League season you’re going to have tough moments, and we had a couple this season — you can see the team sticking together, with enough maturity to know ‘OK, this is a bad moment, this is a bump in the road, but we’re going to get through it together.’
“It doesn’t matter if we play beautiful football or bad football, but we have to stick together and get those points and those games going. And I think everyone stuck together and here we have the reward [points to Premier League trophy].”
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That talk of togetherness and unity has been a common theme in everything we have seen from this group across a remarkable season.
Mikel Arteta himself identified two specific moments where he feared the title might slip away, and the response on both occasions was to reconnect the squad emotionally rather than overload them with tactical solutions.
The subtle changes he made at London Colney, from switching off the sports news channels to giving players unexpected days off, were all designed to maintain exactly the collective spirit Merino describes.
Declan Rice famously mouthed ‘it’s not done’ to his teammates after the defeat at the Etihad, which, although mocked at the time, summed up the mentality of a squad that refused to buckle when the pressure was ramped up.
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The comments are particularly meaningful coming from a player who has spent much of the season watching from the sideline.
Merino has been out with a foot injury since January, where he suffered a stress fracture so rare that even specialists had never seen anything like it.
There were fears that Merino would not only miss the entire run-in for Arsenal, but also the World Cup.
However, Merino has pulled off an amazing recovery and made a substitute appearance in the win over Crystal Palace on the final day. He is now in contention for the Champions League final in Budapest.
He was also selected in Luis De La Fuente’s Spain squad for the summer, along with Arsenal teammates David Raya and Martin Zubimendi.
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