Arsenal: Petr Cech blames injuries for Gunners' title failure

Petr Cech believes Arsenal lost the title in February and March when they went on a seven game winless streak, losing to Manchester United and Swansea in the process. The Gunners were top of the league in January but failed to churn out results on a consistent basis and are currently going into the last game of the season trying to hold on to the number three spot, which will be theirs should they avoid defeat against Aston Villa.

The Gunners had a myriad of injuries going into the season, with Jack Wilshere suffering a crack on his left fibula that kept him out for the majority of the campaign. Danny Welbeck was also out with a knee problem and is unavailable yet again for the majority of next season with another impact injury.

The likes of Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were also long term absentees which made their squad very weak during that period. Cech believes that having to play week in week out with a select bunch of players had their toll on the team, who were feeling the pinch during the period and gave way to fatigue, which scuppered their title challenge.

The likes of Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were also long-term absentees, which made their squad very weak during that period. Cech believes that having to play week in week out with a select bunch of players had their toll on the team, who were feeling the pinch during the period and gave way to fatigue, which scuppered their title challenge.

"We had a great squad at the start of the season. Danny was coming back, Jack was coming back, and it was a very strong group. Unfortunately Jack got injured right before the start of the campaign, Danny had the same problem, Tomas had the same problem, and these were all long-term injuries. Santi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain became long-term injuries too," Cech told Arsenal's Official website.

"If you have so many important players out with long-term injuries, it does give a chance to everybody else, but it can hurt you at certain times. If you have seven games in 21 days and your opponent has had six days off to prepare, you don't have the advantage of rotating players.

"I thought we did so well most of the time to be able to cope with that, but unfortunately in the end we lacked a bit of energy in February and March when we dropped points. This is where the difference was made."