In his latest exclusive blog, the Betway ambassador discusses Arsenal's title win and Champions League final defeat, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City exit and Anthony Gordon's move to Barcelona.
Arsenal spent most of the Champions League final defending a 1-0 lead. Do you think Kai Havertz’s early goal defined how the rest of the game would play out?
Everyone knew how the game was going to be, with Paris Saint-Germain in possession and us trying to hurt them. Havertz’s reinforced how the game was going to be.
The team defends extremely well and you can see the work of the wingers doubling up all the time. You don’t have to like it, but you have to respect it. At the moment, this is how we’re going about things, it brought us the title and we were a penalty kick away from maybe winning the Champions League. That’s a big maybe, but in our history we have never won the league and gone to the Champions League final in the same season, so that has to count for something.
You saw the way Inter Milan wanted to play against PSG in last year’s final. They went eye-to-eye, and look at what happened to them. I’m not saying either way is right or wrong, but Inter let in five, and that would make a lot of teams pause.
Do you think winning the Champions League would have been somewhat ahead of schedule for this Arsenal team?
I can’t say that, because a cup run is a cup run. You never know when it’s going to happen. Sometimes you need the luck of the draw, you need to have the perfect game at the right time, and so many other things can happen.
In the league, you have got to be good for at least 30 to 31 games. You can mess around with seven, but any more than that and you’re not winning the league.
When you look at our history, we only went to two Champions League finals, so you have to take whatever comes your way. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t take home the Champions League, but it looks like we’re going places.
Do PSG already go down as one of the best Champions League sides ever, given the way they’ve won these two back-to-back, and can they win more and more?
It’s up to them to keep on winning, but for French football it’s been outstanding. For so long we only had one Champions League win and now we have three.
For Luis Enrique the most important is that his team have fun and people enjoy the way you play. It’s contagious, and it’s how you get people to become PSG fans.
Can they win a third one? I don’t know it’s up to them. I would never have said that a French team would have won the Champions League back-to-back, so for PSG fans to have a team like that is just outstanding. PSG have suffered for a very long time, and now they’re getting what they deserve.
What’s your overall feeling about this Arsenal team now that they have won a major trophy under Mikel Arteta?
I said at the start of the season that this was the first time I could see us winning the league, and I didn’t stutter when I said we must win it. Before, there was something missing, but this year they made it happen.
Why? Time, investing the right way, and finally, I can relate to the team. There’s something there – the fighting spirit, the big moments – that you can relate to.
Now you have to build on it. It’s very important to see what you need to add in order to stay competitive.
It’s also another thing when everyone wants to destroy you, and everyone wants to take that title away from you. If you don’t start well people are going to question the same things all season again.
Things can change very quickly in football, but are Arsenal in a good position to keep winning major trophies in the years to come?
Adjusting and evolving at the top is key. This is a crucial year because you need to know who’s going to come in, who needs to go, and you need to make the right choices. We’ve seen teams who thought that players were going to come and make them better, but it takes time to adjust to the Premier League.
If you look at Man City, they went to get Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, and that was always going to work because they knew the tempo of the Premier League. They didn’t lose a game in the league after those two joined, so however you want to look at it, that was a plus.
So what are Arsenal going to do? Getting someone that can adapt straight away to the Premier League and have an instant impact in a team that just won the league is not always easy. But that’s what the sporting director and Mikel Arteta are there for, to find the right pieces to make sure that we can stay where we are, and more.
Have you ever seen anything like the celebrations around north London from when Arsenal won the title up until the parade?
All I know is, we do have a lot of Arsenal fans all across the world, and when you win with Arsenal, it hits differently.
It is a special club, it is a people’s club at the end of the day, and you saw it. The streets did answer.
And let’s be honest, it was just one title, which we’ve been waiting for 22 years. But when you saw the love and affection, and how people celebrated around London and around the world, you realise the impact of Arsenal Football Club. That was beautiful, we were waiting for it, and don’t underestimate the impact that Arsenal has in the community. It’s a special club and always will be.
Arne Slot has left Liverpool. Did you see that coming, or were you surprised?
I was actually expecting the last two seasons for Liverpool to happen in reverse. I think because he won the league straight away, the expectations went so high. But not a lot of teams retain the league, and not even Jurgen Klopp’s team did it.
If you take Mikel Arteta for example, he didn’t get the sack – and rightly so – and he just won the league. Slot winning the league has to count for something. But I don’t know what was happening internally or what Liverpool want to do.
Nevertheless, I was surprised and sad for him, because I like him first and foremost. I liked his honesty, how he never ducked a question and always tried to give insights tactically.
Pep Guardiola has also left Manchester City. How big a loss is he for the Premier League?
All I can say is that Pep is a special guy. He changed the game. I remember being on Sky when he first came to Man City and I said to everybody, “be careful, he’s going to dominate English football.” It was easy for me to see because I had him as a coach. You have the full-back going inside now – that’s Pep Guardiola. He brought back the false nine.
How many Man City fans became Man City fans because of him? Not because they were winning, but because of how they played. Winning four in a row in the Premier League, 100 points, winning the treble, how he goes about things, how passionate he is. He’s a freak. He’s not normal in terms of how he sees the game.
I always have a lot of love for him because the way I see the game now is thanks to Pep Guardiola.
Anthony Gordon has joined Barcelona. How huge is that move for him, and how does he fit into that side?
I do think that Anthony Gordon is going to have a great impact in a team that plays outstanding football. They’re going to leave you 1v1, he can stretch a team because he runs in behind, and he has an eye for a goal. He can play on the left, the right and down the middle, as he has for Newcastle.
It’s a dream come true for him, and he worked it out before the World Cup so he can focus on doing what he needs to do this summer.
It’s a great move for Barcelona as well. They got their business done early because during the World Cup it isn’t easy to talk to players. Hopefully for him, he’s going to have a massive impact and it looks like everything should work out.
Were you impressed by him speaking Spanish in the press conference?
Yes, but also that’s what you’re supposed to do – arrive somewhere and adapt. It’s a sign that he already has an understanding of where he is.
I’ve always thought that when you arrive somewhere, you have to make the effort to speak the language for the press, and for the fans just to understand you. When I saw it I was like, “wow, well done mate.”
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