Arsenal came close to ending their Premier League trophy drought last May but lost the title to Manchester City in the last month.
They were on the top of the table for all but one month, but they broke down in their last few games.
Gabriel Jesus has one simple explanation for how it happened - nervousness.
The Gunners came to the 2022-2023 season without much expectation, but they exceeded it. However, they were not able to finish what they started, no thanks to the weak nerves of the club.
"Sometimes at the end of the season we were a little bit nervous as a team," he said.
"They were not nervous as normally they win so that made a difference."
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Manager Mikel Arteta seconded Jesus' assessment of their previous season.
"When he talks about that nervousness, insecurity or uncertainty I think that is related to a lot of key moments that happened, especially in the three consecutive draws we had," he said.
"That created that little bit of doubt as we then had more urgency to win and it gave City a big platform to build momentum. That had a really important effect on the outcome of the championship."
Arsenal has closed the gap on Manchester City
Manchester City won the treble last season, indicating how good they are.
Despite that, Jesus believes the Gunners can go toe-to-toe with the current England champs because of what they built over the years.
"Even before I was feeling like this, the gap was not that big," he said through the club website.
"Obviously, they have been together for years and this made a difference. They have been winning for years and that made a difference also. But since day one when I arrived here, I believed we can fight, we can win. Unfortunately, we didn't win [last season] but I think we will win, for sure."
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