Mikel Merino believes a players-only meeting following last season's draw with Wolves pushed Arsenal towards the Premier League title. The Gunners ended their long wait for the crown as Mikel Arteta led his side to the trophy, though there were moments when the push was in doubt.
Meeting after Wolves draw
Arsenal blew a 2-0 lead to draw with relegation-bound Wolves in January and also lost back-to-back games to Bournemouth and Manchester City in April. Merino revealed that the squad gathered after the Wolves draw and believes it was a huge driving force behind their eventual success.
Writing in the Players Tribune, the Spanish midfielder said: "One slip, and all we heard was 'same old Arsenal'. To be honest, there were doubts inside the team too. Giving away a 2–0 lead should never happen. But the day after the game, the players had a meeting inside the dressing room, without the boss. Everyone spoke up."
Leaders on the pitch
"Nobody talked about tactics. This was about how a group of human beings handle adversity together. I spoke about how I saw the team from the outside, and I said that this was something we as players had to handle, because the boss couldn't do everything for us."
"When one person has so many tasks at one club, you need leaders who can figure things out on their own. Well, at this club, we do. In my view, that was the day we won the title. Even when we lost to Bournemouth and City, that meeting kept us together. We decided to use all the criticism as fuel, and thanks to social media we saw everything."
Criticism as fuel
"We were bottlers. Runners-up. Second, second, second. Boring. Set-piece team. Couldn't score from open play. Couldn't handle the pressure. When they questioned our professionalism, we grew even closer."
"The guy with the bottle on TV? We just laughed. 'Bantah,' like the English say. The boss was on fire. Every team talk, he reached into our hearts. He spoke about looking out for one another, like a family. The culture we have is thanks to him. Even when the world expected us to collapse, I felt confident that the title would be ours."
In the end, Arsenal won their last five games of the season and were officially crowned champions with a match to spare after Manchester City were held by Bournemouth.
