Life comes at you fast, especially if you’re Mikel Arteta.
Despite all reasonable thought pointing toward Liverpool already having the Premier League title under wraps for some time now, the Arsenal boss has remained bullish about his side’s chances of overhauling the Reds. This weekend - with Arne Slot’s side facing Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final - should have been the opportunity for the Gunners to really put the pressure on.
“The thing is that when you are there, you want more and you want more and you want more,” Arteta said on February 25. “And I’m not going to stop; over my dead body.
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“We’ll stop thinking that way and putting everything that we possibly can to increase the probability of us winning and being better than the opponent and hitting that performance and those standards constantly, regardless of what happens.”
Arsenal was 11 points behind Liverpool when Arteta delivered those comments. That gap has grown to 15, and the Gunners boss has very rather drastically changed his tune.
"I think Chelsea can compete with any team. How many teams are now competing for second? A lot,” he said as he looked ahead to his side’s game on Sunday. “There are still games to go. There's still a lot of variation, a lot of games between us, a lot of difficult games. There's a lot of teams still involved."
He was then asked about the importance of finishing second, assuming Champions League football is already guaranteed. “I prefer to finish first than second, second than third, third than fourth. And if you cannot be the best, be the second best at least. That's for sure."
Just over two weeks on from declaring he would be giving up the title race “over my dead body”, suddenly it seems Arteta is writing his own eulogy. It’s a rather embarrassing climb down from the Arsenal boss, who finally seems to be grappling with reality like the rest of us.
That it took just 17 days for him to make his U-turn rather sums up what has been a rather meek surrender from the Gunners in recent weeks. Don’t let that detract though from what has been a spectacular effort from Liverpool.
You’ll no doubt hear rival supporters trying to detract from the Reds’ achievement - in fact, you’ve no doubt already come across that on social media. I know I have.
Fans from other clubs declaring that Liverpool are winning the title in the “worst ever” Premier League season. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If anything, bar a desperately poor bottom three, England’s top flight has rarely been stronger. Declaring this as the worst ever season would be doing teams like Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Brighton and Fulham a major disservice.
Arsenal and Manchester City, the two best teams in the last couple of seasons, have not been able to maintain their momentum, and those other sides have now caught up with them. Liverpool, meanwhile, has stepped up another gear and, bar Forest, has found answers to each test so far.
Don’t forget what the reaction to Slot taking over from Jurgen Klopp was. Liverpool supporters were confidently told that they’d be the next Manchester United, floundering and dropping further and further down the table after a period of success.
The Reds’ hopes of a treble might be over, but if they can overcome Newcastle at Wembley on Sunday, then a double will be more than deserved. Even if Arteta is finally admitting defeat, that should be a sign of Liverpool’s superiority this season.
