Arsenal have been able to take the 2023/24 Premier League title race to the final matchday after their gritty win at Old Trafford over Manchester United. But when it comes to many Gooners around the world, a sense of paranoia and dejection is setting about the impending inevitable.
The ‘inevitable’ in this sense means only one team, that is Manchester City. The Cityzens are guaranteed of their fourth consecutive Premier League title by winning their last two matches against Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Considering that neither of the two teams are in the best of form and Pep Guardiola’s side being on a seven-match winning run in the league, the odds are not in Arsenal’s favor here.
The Gunners are under threat of losing their second straight Premier League title race to City. They also came up short in the 2022/23 season despite putting up an admirable fight. This time, Arsenal have already picked up two points more than their 22/23 tally (84 points) but still might come up short in the title race despite potentially finishing the 23/24 campaign with 89 points!
This stress is now taking a toll on many Arsenal fans around the world. YouTuber and Arsenal fanatic Harry Symeou decided to confess how this rivalry with the Cityzens is impacting his relationship with his own family members. After witnessing Manchester City pick up a dominant 4-0 win over Fulham on Saturday (May 11), Symeou had to detail how exhausted and frustrated he’s feeling amid the fear of losing the title race.
In his recent YouTube video, he confessed: “Don’t really know how you cope with this stuff. I’ve been in such a foul mood since the 12th minute of this game. My wife and kids were out today. My wife takes kids out for their classes on Saturday morning and they came home and I was just unhappy miserable and everyone could tell and they were saying ‘daddy, daddy what’s the matter’ and I was like ‘Manchester City are winning son, that’s what the matter.’
‘And as the game’s gone on I even found myself, listen to this as this is ridiculous and I’m not proud of this AT ALL. But both my kids were at the time, Manchester City were on the attack to score their second goal and which was ultimately the one that killed all the hope. My kids were arguing over a toy and were sort of raising their voices at each other.
“A five-year-old and two-year-old pulling for the same toy and it gets loud and it gets a little bit crazy. And then Manchester City scored and you know what my response was? That ‘it’s your fault kids because Fulham couldn’t defend properly because they were distracted by you guys making a load of noise’. I mean it just came out, I didn’t think about it and it just came out. What a ridiculous thing to say. But is there clearer evidence of the fact that Manchester City have gotten under my skin.”
Symeou has probably been able to reveal the inner feeling of millions of Gooners around the world witnessing their hopes of winning the Premier League title crushed one game at a time by City. The Cityzens faithful, meanwhile, can’t help but laugh and take pride at the mental anguish that their team is putting the rival fans under and how their dominance seems to be breaking the spirits of almost every Premier League club.
With that being said, Symeou has even been criticized by some supporters for being overly dramatic with his emotions. These claims relay that, at the end of the day, football is just a sport. Some fans are urging this Gooner to get the priorities in his lfie straightened out especially now that he has a family and not allow his football fandom get mixed up with how he behaves with his loved ones.
There is this popular mindset among some Manchester United fans detailing ‘United, Kids, Wife. In that order’. At this point, it seems like it’s totally applicable for someone like Symeou – who might be put under even more misery if Manchester City end up winning the Premier League title again and leave Arsenal with the silver’s medal and no trophy to show for their heroics.
