"In my view, that was the day we won the title," Mikel Merino said of the players-only meeting that followed Arsenal's draw with Wolves. Arsenal had gone 2-0 up against the side sitting bottom of the table before the game slipped away, and the players met in the dressing room the next day without the boss. Merino's point is clear enough, even if it remains his own reading of the run-in.

The dressing room meeting after Wolves

Merino said the meeting was about ownership rather than systems. "Everyone spoke up. Nobody talked about tactics. This was about how a group of human beings handle adversity together," he said. He added that players needed to handle it themselves because "the boss couldn’t do everything for us." That is the part of his account that stands out most, because he ties the title push to leadership inside the squad rather than any change on the training ground.

He also pointed to the pressure that followed. Arsenal lost to Bournemouth and City after that, but Merino said the meeting kept the group together. Arsenal are second in the Premier League with 15 points from 6 games this season, while last season they finished top with 85 points. Wolves ended last season 20th, which is why the collapse against them still reads as the kind of result that can knock a title chase off course.

Merino's injury and late-season return

The interview was not only about the title run. Merino also spoke about the foot injury that sidelined him for a spell, saying he was unable to walk for two months and even used a mobility scooter to get around. He described the diagnosis as unusual, with the specialist saying he had never seen a stress fracture in that part of the foot.

Merino said five of the best specialists in the world had not seen it either, and at one point he feared he might never play football again. He later made one appearance off the bench on the final day of the Premier League season, and his own version of the story links that return back to the same theme, players carrying more of the load when the pressure is highest.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →