Piers Morgan has laid into Arsenal, calling their performance against Brighton “pathetic” and accusing the team of choking in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners were thrashed 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium by Brighton on Sunday afternoon to all but hand the title to Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s side are four points ahead with a game in hand and now just need one win from their final three matches to secure the trophy.
After going into the break at 0-0, Arsenal were humbled in the second half as goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinian emptied the stands. It was a miserable day for Arsenal fans, who have had to concede that the dream of a first title since 2003/04 is now over.
Morgan was absolutely furious after watching the game and tore into Mikel Arteta and his players. “All over,” he tweeted. "Totally outplayed by a team that just lost 1-5 to Everton.
"A horribly lacklustre, passion-devoid, spiritless, pathetic performance that cements an inexplicably dismal run-in to a season which promised so much. Bottom line: we choked. #afc."
Arsenal have fallen apart since early April, surrendering two-goal leads against Liverpool and West Ham to draw before being held 3-3 by bottom club Southampton. Those six dropped points were then compounded by a 4-1 thrashing by Manchester City.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Piers Morgan right? Have Arsenal "choked"? Comment below.
Arteta’s side responded with wins over Chelsea and Newcastle, but Brighton proved a step too far. Morgan is steadfast in his belief that Arsenal have “bottled” the title race, having been so far ahead of City six weeks ago.
BT Sport presenter Jake Humphrey tweeted: “I hate this narrative that Arsenal bottled it. They have pushed one of the PL’s greatest ever teams all the way, and done it with a young coach and young players who finished 5th last season. It’s nothing but a success. They fell short, they’ll be stronger for it.”
Morgan replied: “It’s not ‘success’ to be 8pts clear, then fail to win two consecutive games when we were 2-0 up, go 2-0 down in 10 mins at home to the worst team in the League, get humiliated at City, & surrender in a pitiful manner to Brighton at home today. It’s failure, and we bottled it.”
A supporter then shot back at Morgan: “Great tweet @piersmorgan l am sure @m8arteta will keep this tweet and use it as a pre match motivation for the boys next season. Let’s give the team credit for the efforts, Let’s not forget where this team was before Mikel took over and next season the boys will be stronger and experienced”.
To which he responded: “Very happy to see the massive improvement we’ve made this season, but also very unhappy with the way we choked the League when it was ours for the taking. Any Arsenal fan who says/thinks differently is deluded.”
Arsenal face Nottingham Forest this weekend before finishing their season against Wolves. After playing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday, City can clinch the title at home to Chelsea on Sunday.
