Five teams who threw away huge leads to blow title as Arsenal and Napoli stutter
Getting over the line is one of hardest parts of football – as Premier League and Serie A leaders Arsenal and Napoli are proving.
Mikel Arteta's Gunners still have their destiny in their hands, but back-to-back 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham appear to have swung the title race in the favour of Manchester City ahead of their meeting at the Etihad next week.
Over in Italy, champions in waiting Napoli are stuttering after an almost faultless season. Four points from their last three league games has cut their lead to 14.
While neither have bottled yet, they'll be wary that many sides have in the past – with Daily Star Sport looking back at five who threw away massive points leads and blew the title.
READ MORE: Jamie Carragher says 'arrogant' Arsenal are dropping points because they're too cocky
Arsenal – 2002/03
History could well be repeating itself for Arsenal, who back in January were eight points clear of City – the same margin they had 20 years ago.
That season, it was in March that they were comfortably top of the table. Back then it was the red side of Manchester they were competing with.
United claimed maximum points from 15 of their final 18 games while Arsene Wenger's men won just four of their final nine games to finish second.
What would you say is the worst bottlejob in football history? Let us know in the comments section.
Liverpool – 2018/19
Liverpool fans know all too well the pain the Emirates faithful are feeling as they've seen Pep Guardiola's relentless City side hunt them down on more than one occassion.
In fairness, finishing on 97 points and not lifting the trophy was a brutal outcome for Jurgen Klopp's side, who were ultimately undone by a 1-0 defeat to their rivals in January.
That, as well as a run of four draws in six games, saw their nine-point lead gradually diminish in painful fashion.
Derby – 2014/15
Stepping down from the Premier League for one moment, Derby County produced quite the Championship bottle job back in 2015 under Steve McClaren.
The Rams were top of the table with 13 games to go, five points clear in the automatic promotion spots and on course for a Prem return.
However, just two wins until the end of the season not only saw them miss out on that front, but also saw slip out of play-off contention too as they finished a remarkable eighth.
Manchester United – 2011/12
Understandably, everyone remembers the 2011/12 Prem season for what happened at the end of it – but Sergio Aguero's epic title-winning goal would never have happened had United not slipped up big time.
With only six games to go Sir Alex Ferguson's usually ruthless Red Devils made a right pigs ear of their run-in, losing away to Wigan and drawing 4-4 with Everton at Old Trafford.
Those results, combined with City's 1-0 derby win at the Etihad in both sides' third to last game of the campaign, vanquished what was an eight-point lead.
Newcastle – 1995/96
The ultimate bottle job remains Newcastle in 1996 when they'd had 12 points over Fergie's United, only to finish runners-up to them.
A run of five losses in eight outings was quite the collapse with their rivals losing just once in the remainder of the season.
Not even Kevin Keegan's memorable "I'd love it if we beat them" rant could inspire a turnaround and they finished with successive 1-1 draws.
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