Jurriën Timber says Arsenal’s players can feel the anxiety of the Emirates Stadium crowd and must find a way to handle it as they chase a first Premier League title since 2004.
The defender gestured for calm in the stands after 63 minutes of Sunday’s game against Chelsea with the score at 1-1; he would score what proved to be the winner three minutes later. The fans’ nerves did not ease – even after the Chelsea winger Pedro Neto was sent off in the 70th minute – and Timber felt them particularly strongly in the closing stages.
It was when Arsenal appeared to seize up and Chelsea pushed for the equaliser. They might have got it but for an excellent David Raya save from Alejandro Garnacho, who had come on as a substitute. In the final five minutes of regulation time plus the six additional minutes, Arsenal completed only seven passes.
It was difficult to know what came first – the fans’ anxiety or that of the players. Either way, the mood was edgy. Timber said it was important that the squad acknowledged and discussed it in order to find a way through it. Arsenal are next in action at Brighton on Wednesday night. They are five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, having played one game more.
“Of course you feel it, especially at the end,” Timber said when asked about the anxiety in the stadium. “I think we stopped playing a bit, which was unnecessary – especially with a man up. It is something we need to work on and talk about because it happened a couple of times this season already. Things like this … they happen, especially against a good team like Chelsea. So it is definitely something we need to speak about.
“It happened as well this season that we got through it when it got nervous but also a couple of times we didn’t. It is part of the game and you have to understand what happens in the moment and the energy within the place, within the crowd, anxiety.”
Timber won the Eredivisie with Ajax in 2021 and 2022 but he does not feel it entitles him to offer advice to his Arsenal teammates on how to stay the course.
“It is hard because you don’t want to act like you are the one that knows everything or you are the wise one,” Timber said. “At the same time, it is so different. Every season is so different but also the Premier League is so different compared to the Dutch league.
“It’s just trying to take the experiences from myself, knowing how important these last games are, but I think everyone knows it. The coach knows it really well, and it is going to be exciting.”
