Arsenal’s Premier League season: Success or failure?

The only problem with Arsenal’s roller-coaster season was the dip at the end. It was one hell of a nerve-shredding ride, reaching and maintaining unexpected heights as the Gunners spent a total of 248 days at the top of the Premier League only for Manchester City to surpass them in the final weeks to clinch the title with two games left.

It is the longest time any team has spent in that position without going on to win the trophy. Nobody expected Arsenal to be there in the first place, and the supporters will be delighted they could dream for so long when a top-four push was the original limit of their ambition. But with City celebrating their fifth league win in six years, there is an accompanying sense of regret for Mikel Arteta and his players. They have to accept the uncomfortable truth that their rivals navigated the latter stages of the title race with more authority and control.

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This was encapsulated perfectly by Arsenal losing 1-0 at Nottingham Forest to hand City the title without kicking a ball last weekend — the final act of surrender coming at the venue where City last dropped points … on Feb. 18. Two wins from Arsenal’s last eight games saw them stutter, with City setting such ferocious standards, it was enough of a wobble to veer off course.

ESPN breaks down Arsenal’s season, reflecting on the huge progress they made after finishing fifth in 2021-22, and where they fell short in trying to win their first title since 2004.

The emergence, and eventual reliance, on key players

Seven players started Arsenal’s first 21 Premier League games of the season: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. Martin Odegaard missed just one match in that run — a 3-0 win at Brentford on Sept. 18 — as the Gunners…