Arsenal are seeking silverware this season having gone close in the UEFA Champions League and Premier League last term.
However, former English title winner Joleon Lescott believes the Gunners don't know how to control themselves.
The two-time Premier League champion says Arsenal's exuberance could ultimately cost them at the business end of the season.
'Arsenal are too emotional to win the Premier League' - Joleon Lescott
"They have no reference of winning to know how to control [their emotions]. The more you win, the calmer you are," Lescott said on All Out Football’s 'In the Mixer' podcast, produced by Sky Bet.
“Look at last season, when it wasn’t going well for Manchester City, they weren’t reactional [sic] and negative, they knew they’d get back [into the game], but with Arsenal it’s sometimes like the end of the world [if they’re not performing].”
Mikel Arteta has one FA Cup win and two Community Shield victories during his six-year spell as Arsenal boss.
Critics have suggested this is not enough silverware for a club like Arsenal to have won during a period in which Arteta has spent heavily on turning the squad into title challengers on multiple fronts, although that could change this year.
The additions of Viktor Gyokeres and Ebere Eze were statement signings during the summer transfer window and serve to supplement an already-talented squad which finished second in the Premier League and made it to the last four of the Champions League during 2024/25.
“I don’t think Mikel Arteta can get Arsenal over the line in the Premier League," Lescott added, discussing his former Everton teammate. "But in the Champions League, it’s different. With the way he rotates and because of that big gap [before the knockout stages], no one knows what kind of form or fitness teams will be in. That suits Arsenal better than having to be consistently good every single week to win the league.”
The former central defender is less enthusiastic about the Gunners' chances with Gyokeres as their first-choice No.9, though.
“I would describe Victor Gyökeres as ‘okay.’ If you’re going to win the league, your striker can’t be ‘okay,’ he has to be top.”
Arsenal are currently five points off league leaders Liverpool, but have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League (2) after five matches of the new campaign.
Arteta's men are also off to a winning start in the Champions League having beaten Athletic Club 2-0 in their 2025/26 opener and remain in the hat for the Carabao Cup.
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