Sam Allardyce shares the reason why Arsenal failed to win the Premier League last season

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Arsenal just fell short in the Premier League title race last season.

The north London club led the way for so long, but, in the end, Manchester City cruised to glory.

It’s been a year since Arsenal’s infamous collapse, and speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has now shared why Arsenal couldn’t get the job done last season.

Why Arsenal couldn’t win the Premier League

Allardyce spoke about last season’s collapse, and he claims that the absence of William Saliba towards the end of the season was the reason the Gunners blew it.

“He’s there to win the league this time, he blew it last year, he gave it away and he’s learned his lesson. His players are responding, the centre-half was the reason they lost the league last year.

“You know why I mention the centre-half is because I go on all the time about clean sheets. He was missing last year and that’s probably why they lost the league, that’s when they started conceding goals, he’s there and he’s the number one centre-half in the country at the moment,” Allardyce said.

William Saliba is so important

We hate to place so much importance on just one player, but Allardyce may be right here.

Indeed, Saliba was so key for Arsenal last term, and his absence towards the end of the season was felt massively.

Arsenal just didn’t have the depth to continue at that pace without Saliba in the team. With all due respect, there’s a reason Rob Holding isn’t shining at Crystal Palace right now, and that’s because he’s not up to that sort of top level.

Luckily, Arsenal may not have the same issue this time around as Saliba looks as fit and as fresh as ever, but, without jinxing things, you never know what could be around the corner for any player, and an untimely injury or suspension could again affect Arsenal’s run-in.