Arsenal news: Erling Haaland ramps up title mind games as bottling claims addressed

Arsenal were dealt a crushing blow to their title hopes by Manchester City with their mentality coming under scrutiny once again

Plenty has been said about Arsenal’s mentality following Sunday’s monumental 2-1 defeat to Manchester City. The Gunners have seen their nine-point lead over their rivals at the top of the table cut to just three after second-placed City’s potential Premier League title-deciding win.

Erling Haaland’s 65th minute strike proved to be the winner after Kai Havertz initially cancelled out Rayan Cherki’s opener in the first half. Mikel Arteta’s side suffered their fourth defeat in six matches across all competitions to cap off a torrid month which also saw them lose to City in the Carabao Cup final and exit the FA Cup.

Anything but a win against Newcastle at home this Saturday in the league would be a disaster, given that City still have a game in hand. Now, Mirror Football, takes a look at two of the latest news stories involving the north Londoners.

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'Bottle' claims rejected

Danny Murphy has defended Arsenal by claiming they are not guilty of "bottling" the league this season - as they have been accused of doing both recently and in the past. The Gunners have remarkably finished second in each of the previous three seasons and are in danger of doing so for an unprecedented fourth time.

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But despite the simplified narrative that their recent defeat at City was due to them losing their nerve, the Gunners actually gave a good account of themselves and were unlucky not to take home a point. That's the view of Match of the Day pundit Murphy, who has defended their performance at the Etihad, suggesting the title race is not over just yet with five games left to play.

Murphy wrote in his BBC column: "I have heard lots of criticism of Arsenal recently - how they have bottled it in games or are falling away again when it matters - but that was certainly not the case on Sunday. It was a disappointing result for them but when they review this game in the cold light of day they cannot be disappointed with the performance.

"They had a real go at Manchester City in the second half and created some really good chances. On a different day they could easily have won this game, they would be nine points clear and we would all be saying the title race is done.

"The reason Arsenal will be kicking themselves is because we did not see this intensity when they lost at home to Bournemouth last week. Maybe that was because they are playing a lot of games at the moment and energy was a factor, but I think it is more to do with mindset.

"I was at Emirates Stadium for the Bournemouth game, and I did not see the energy and urgency from Arsenal that I saw at Etihad Stadium. Yes, Arsenal have messed up recently, but not this time."

Haaland plays mind games

City striker Haaland, however, has taken a different approach to Murphy. The Norwegian sought to rattle Arsenal’s players and fans by bringing up the fact they have repeatedly fallen short of their title ambitions in recent seasons in his post-match interview.

Haaland’s crucial goal made Pep Guardiola’s men the new favourites to become champions again. And he was quick to remind his bitter rivals of the fact that history appears to be repeating itself once more.

When asked if City were living in Arsenal’s heads, he said: "I don’t know. You need to ask them. The last seasons they’ve come up short. (But) I don’t want to speak too much about them, because they are an amazing team and we should focus on ourselves."

While Arsenal have not won a title in more than two decades, City have been crowned the kings of English football four times in the last five seasons. The Gunners have now lost back-to-back league games at a pivotal point in the season.

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