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Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has called out Arsenal stars for 'over-celebrating wins' and being too emotional before eventually losing the title fight to Manchester City.
While giving his analysis on Arsenal's 3-0 home loss to Brighton on Sky's Monday Night Football, Neville said: 'I always doubted whether this Arsenal team [could win the title], just looking at some of the things that were happening."
"The over-celebrations against Aston Villa [after the 4-2 win in February]. I look at little things that might look harsh - Zinchenko celebrating an hour after the game with the fans outside and screaming.
"You want your leaders in the team, who have been there before, to spread composure around the dressing room and calm everybody down. But, on the other hand, you don't want them to lift the anxiety or emotion," Neville added.
"I'm filling in the blanks of what was going on behind the scenes!!! I've seen it before from emotional teams!"
"The experience I'm talking about isn't just from winning titles! I lost 4/5 on the title races as well. Some emotions aren't positive for a group even if they look it," he rubbed further.
Neville also asserted further that Arsenal threw away the title rather than try to compete with Man City as they failed the matches they should have won at crucial times."
"I do think there is an element of throwing the title away because of the nature of the defeats."
"Being up in games, being 2-0 up in two games [at Liverpool and West Ham], losing 3-1 against the bottom of the league. Yesterday, what happened."
"We have got to say about it is that at the elite level, at high-performance levels, you have to make sure you perform whether it be at Augusta coming up the last or the World Championships at snooker, whether it be the Olympic Games, the biggest moments, the most pressurised moments, you have got to deliver it at those moments."
"I've said about being cold during the title run-in, and there was an element of emotion. Xhaka at Anfield [squaring up to Trent Alexander-Arnold with Arsenal 2-0 ahead], Partey losing his form in games and getting caught on the ball in difficult moments."
"From all that, it became very tough for them mentally, and it's caused them a big issue in the last few weeks," the former Manchester United right-back summed up.
Pep Guardiola's Man City, who are four points clear of Arsenal at the moment with a game in hand, could be champions this weekend if Mikel Arteta's side loses at Nottingham Forest.
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