Merino reveals players-only meeting after Wolves draw was the day Arsenal won the title

Mikel Merino believes a players-only dressing room meeting, convened the day after Arsenal squandered a 2-0 lead to draw with Wolves in January, was the defining moment of the club’s Premier League title-winning season.

Writing in The Players’ Tribune, the Spanish midfielder described how the squad gathered without manager Mikel Arteta to confront their doubts head-on. “Nobody talked about tactics,” Merino wrote. “This was about how a group of human beings handle adversity together.”

Merino, who joined Arsenal last summer, said he addressed the group from the perspective of someone observing the team from the outside. “I said that this was something we as players had to handle, because the boss couldn’t do everything for us. When one person has so many tasks at one club, you need leaders who can figure things out on their own. Well, at this club, we do.”

The Wolves draw was not Arsenal’s only stumble. They also lost back-to-back games to Bournemouth and Manchester City in April, a run that invited familiar criticism from outside the club. Merino says the January meeting provided the resilience to absorb those setbacks. “In my view, that was the day we won the title. Even when we lost to Bournemouth and City, that meeting kept us together. We decided to use all the criticism as fuel.”

He recalled the external noise with a degree of relish. “We were bottlers. Runners-up. Second, second, second. Boring. Set-piece team. Couldn’t score from open play. Couldn’t handle the pressure. When they questioned our professionalism, we grew even closer.”

Merino also paid tribute to Arteta’s role in shaping the club’s culture, even if the pivotal meeting took place without him. “The boss was on fire. Every team talk, he reached into our hearts. He spoke about looking out for one another, like a family. The culture we have is thanks to him. Even when the world expected us to collapse, I felt confident that the title would be ours.”

Arsenal won their final five matches of the season and were confirmed as Premier League champions with a game to spare, after Manchester City were held by Bournemouth.