Mikel Arteta didn’t learn from what Tottenham did and it could cost Arsenal the title

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Arsenal’s defeat to Bournemouth was a crushing one at The Emirates.

There is no doubting the size of the result and what it could mean for the title race as Manchester City sat back and watched with glee at the Gunners throwing it away.

It means that City can now draw level on points by winning their games in hand and beating Arsenal.

Of course, Mikel Arteta shouldered a lot of the blame today. But in reality, so he should.

In fact, he was the one who didn’t learn from local rivals Tottenham, as he seemed to make this game bigger than it needed to be.

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Mikel Arteta needed to keep his mouth shut before Arsenal v Bournemouth

It might have only been a couple of sentences about the Arsenal fans and what this game meant, but it was enough to put greater magnitude on the result against Bournemouth.

“The players know it, our supporters know it, it’s an early kick-off, so get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, and let’s all go together for it because it has to be a big day,” Arteta commented pre-match.

“Our pride is reinforced because that talks about your culture and the identity of this club and the team, and to define that, you have to go through different scenarios, different moments, individually and collectively. I always said that that’s one of the proudest things that I have, not only with the people but our supporters as well, they’ve always been with the team regardless of the situation and that’s great to see in football.”

Ultimately, this is something he should not have said and while hindsight is a wonderful thing, we saw with Tottenham last month what can happen.

Spurs had Nottingham Forest at home in what was deemed a must-win game for them. However, Spurs’ fans and coaching staff turned it into a bit of a circus, with pre-match scenes reminiscent of those you’d see before a cup final.

That put huge pressure on Tottenham and they folded, losing 3-0 to Forest and putting themselves firmly in relegation danger.

Of course, the stakes at Arsenal are a bit different but there is no doubting that there is an element of mind games and mental fortitude that comes into things.

Mikel Arteta’s comments only served to add pressure this weekend. Fans lapped it up on social media but you could feel right away that the atmosphere inside the stadium was tense.

That is something Arteta needs to be better at. Yes, the pressure is on and yes, the players need to embrace it.

But good managers can divert such things and get their teams over the line. Right now, that challenge is firmly on for Arteta.