Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has given a damning indictment of the Gunners’ Premier League season claiming they had ‘thrown away’ the chance to win the title. The north London club last won the league title in 2003/04 when Lehmann was at the club and the team had gone an entire season unbeaten with the team dubbed the Invincibles.
But since the 2004/05 season, Wenger’s side have failed to even finish in the top two. They have topped the league a number of times over the past few seasons only to capitulate in the final months and finish in Champions League qualifying spots.
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This season, Arsenal were still top of the league in mid-January. But a string of poor results, which included four draws and three losses, saw Wenger's side slide down to fourth spot with Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
With another draw against Crystal Palace on Sunday, Arsenal’s title challenge is pretty much over with five games to go. Mathematically, they are still in with a chance due to the game in hand. But the Foxes now have a 13-point lead over the Gunners while Tottenham Hotspur could finish above their derby rivals for the first time since Wenger took over the club.
Arsenal supporters have seen better times: Lehmann
Speaking about the title race at the Laureus World Sports Awards, Lehmann was of the opinion that the Gunners did throw it away when they had it in their hands.
“Have they thrown it away? Yes, it’s a fact,” Lehmann said. “ Of course, they did. The table now is different.
“So, of course, I’m a little bit sad.
“The Arsenal when I played was probably a little bit different than it is now but that’s football and it always contains disappointments for most of the teams who would like to win the trophy but don’t manage to do that at the end of the season.
“I think this time it’s a little bit more disappointing than before because everybody thought Leicester could be caught at the end of the season and they still could, but unfortunately by Spurs and not by Arsenal. If you’re an Arsenal supporter there have definitely been better times.”
Arsenal lack balance on the pitch: Lehmann
Lehmann also spoke about how failing to defend as a team was what let Arsenal down in the title race.
“From my experience defending is the responsibility of the whole team in modern football,” the former Germany shot-stopper explained.
“Arsenal can’t say ‘Oh, the defence’. You need to have the right balance and the right positioning on the pitch.
“You can’t really blame the striker for not scoring when he doesn’t get any deliveries. Probably the offensive guys don’t track back really hard.”
