Last season saw Arsenal come agonisingly close to claiming their first Premier League title in 19 years, under Mikel Arteta
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Legendary former Arsenal captain Tony Adams believes his old club might have won the Premier League title last season had Unai Emery still been manager.
Mikel Arteta's Gunners set the pace for much of the 2022/23 campaign, only to crumble late on and have to settle for second place behind Manchester City.
And Adams has pondered whether Arsenal might have held on to be crowned champions with Emery – the Gunners' permanent boss between Arsene Wenger and Arteta – at the helm instead.
Defeat to Nottingham Forest in May took the 2022/23 Premier League title away from Arsenal (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Gunners' 1997/98 and 2001/02 double-winning skipper told talkSPORT: "I love him [Arteta]. I love his passion and enthusiasm. I've always said he's a little bit inexperienced and perhaps needs to draw on someone in his staff who is a little more experiences.
"I'm talking about going across the line last season.
"We all make mistakes and aren't perfect. He perhaps didn't rotate players early enough last season. People were running out of steam, like Bukayo Saka. I think he's doing great.
"Last year, weirdly if Unai Emery was our manager then we could have perhaps won the league.
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"I know he didn't stick around [Emery was sacked in November 2019 after only 18 months in the job] and following Arsene Wenger was difficult – a bit like George Graham being followed by Bruce Ricoh.
"I think he [Arteta] missed a few bits last season to get us over the line."
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Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
