Arsenal’s Premier League championship cost suffered yet one more wobble on Wednesday, leaving many Gunners followers to surprise: “Is it taking place once more?”
A 2-2 draw at backside facet Wolverhampton Wanderers was, within the context of the 2025-26 title race, pretty disastrous. After dropping factors of their earlier league outing, a 1-1 draw at Brentford, Mikel Arteta’s facet fumbled a two-goal lead at Molineux, thereby failing to increase their lead on the prime over Manchester Metropolis to seven factors and preserve their destiny in their very own palms.
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Having topped the desk since September, Arsenal have run out of steam in current weeks at a pivotal level within the season. They’ve now received simply two of their final seven league video games.
Their lead on the prime of the Premier League has been decreased to only 5 factors, with Metropolis (who’ve a sport in hand) now respiration down their necks. Put merely, if Metropolis handle to win all of their remaining 12 video games, together with a house fixture towards Arsenal in April, they are going to end prime. The identical may be stated for Arsenal, ought to they rally to win their remaining 11 video games, together with that essential journey to the Etihad, however they’ve left themselves with no margin for error.
Whereas all isn’t misplaced fairly but, current historical past doesn’t make nice studying for Arteta’s faltering facet. Metropolis have mustered a lot stronger finishes than Arsenal in the course of the closing levels of the previous 4 seasons — no matter their place within the desk relative to the Gunners.
There may be nonetheless lots of soccer left to play on this marketing campaign, however the reality is that Arsenal have put fewer factors on the board than Metropolis from this stage onward in each season since 2021-22. They will have to buck that development if they’re to forestall their agonizing wait for one more Premier League title from rolling on right into a twenty third 12 months.
2021-22
Arsenal had been the youngest squad within the Premier League with a median age of simply 24 years and 308 days. They had been additionally by no means actually within the title race, as a substitute jostling for European qualification. Regardless of being chased onerous by Liverpool, Metropolis spent the whole second half of the season on the prime of the desk and finally received the league by a single level.
By means of comparability, Pep Guardiola’s champions claimed 30 factors from their remaining 12 video games of the season, whereas Arsenal might solely muster 18 in the identical time-frame, incomes them a fifth-place end and UEFA Europa League qualification.
2022-23
At this precise level three years in the past, Arsenal had been perched prime of the desk with 27 matches performed, 5 factors away from defending champions Metropolis in second (sound acquainted?), having each performed the identical variety of video games.
The Gunners remained prime till gameweek 33, after they had been unceremoniously thrashed 4-1 by Metropolis on the Etihad and bumped from prime spot within the course of. Metropolis held agency, happening to win the title by 5 factors, having taken 31 factors of their ultimate 12 video games, versus Arsenal’s comparatively meagre 21-point haul. That was the primary a part of Metropolis’s Treble triumph, as additionally they received the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League that season.
2023-24
Arsenal discovered themselves competing with Manchester Metropolis and Liverpool for the title for almost all of the 2023-24 marketing campaign. Certainly, the three groups had been usually separated by only a level or two all through the second half of the season in what proved to be one of many extra enthralling title races in recent times.
The Gunners went the gap, and even topped the desk on a number of events in Could. However finally, it wasn’t sufficient to forestall Metropolis from developing on the rails and steamrolling their option to a fourth consecutive title win. Guardiola’s facet earned only one extra level than Arsenal over the course of their respective ultimate 12 video games, however it was sufficient for them to wrap issues up with victory over West Ham United on the ultimate day.
2024-25
With Manchester Metropolis affected by burnout and properly off the tempo within the title race, Liverpool and Arsenal had been left to duke it out on the prime of the Premier League. Arteta’s group had been in second place since December, however a run of dropped factors throughout the previous couple of weeks of the season (notably a galling 2-1 house defeat towards AFC Bournemouth in early Could) allowed Liverpool to drag away on the prime to complete 10 factors clear.
Regardless of dropping as little as seventh simply earlier than Christmas, Metropolis did no less than handle to enhance their outcomes after the flip of the 12 months. They even put extra factors on the board than Arsenal (27 factors to 21) from their ultimate 12 video games of the marketing campaign to finish up in third place, simply three factors behind the exhausted Gunners.