Patrick Vieira believes that if Arsenal can win the Premier League title this year, that could inspire multiple further titles in the coming seasons.
Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Sunday took the team five points clear at the top of the Premier League table, but winning the title is still a long way off.
With Manchester City having a game in hand and Arsenal still to visit the Etihad Stadium, the title is as much in Pep Guardiola’s hands as Mikel Arteta’s with three months to go.
Nothing is guaranteed at this stage, and former Gunner Patrick Vieira believes this could be a turning point for the club, arguing that victory this year may provide the groundwork for a succession of title wins.
“That will be the momentum and the belief that players need to go there and win it two, three times in a row,” Vieira said. “In our time, it was really difficult to win two titles in a row. We won it once, [then] we didn’t, we won it the next year…because we were competing against United.
“I think in the last couple of years it was really difficult for Arsenal, because there was Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester City. There was more competition maybe than a couple of years ago.
“But if they win it this year, that can [lead to] Arsenal winning the title for the next couple of years.”
For the time being, Arsenal fans would happily focus on the club just winning the one league title. It’s now been almost 22 years since the club’s last success, which was during Vieira’s own time as a player.
Add to that the fact the Gunners are still competing in the League Cup, the FA Cup, and the Champions League, and there’s plenty to keep the team occupied before they can start thinking about winning the next two or three Premier League titles.
But Vieira is right that the team need to start building some trophy momentum. This Arsenal side has played too well for the last three or four years not to see any kind of reward, and those rewards are now in sight.