Are Arsenal on the verge of derailing their Premier League title charge?

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal started the season as one of the favourites to thwart Manchester City for the Premier League title. However, ten games in, it looks like the North London side’s chances for a first league title in over 20 years is coming to a premature end after a third defeat in four visits at St James’ Park last weekend. 

Arsenal’s longest journey in the Premier League season once again turned out to be their most disappointing one. With one point from a possible nine, and a second successive away loss, they have stumbled when they needed to surge.

This time, the loss of points was not due to a loss of players, or injuries, or any officiating error. Arsenal finished with all their player on the pitch but with just one shot on target to show for their efforts. They had plenty of possession but did too little with it. Bukayo Saka was shackled by the increasingly impressive Lewis Hall, as Arsenal desperately missed the class of Martin Ødegaard, especially his ability to pick a pass and unlock defences. 

Arteta may regret not starting Ethan Nwaneri, as Leandro Trossard—so often a talisman—was utterly ineffectual, while it was equally damning for Raheem Sterling, who remained seated for the whole 90 minutes as an unused substitute. 

Five wins in ten games, with three draws and two defeats, has left the Gunners seven points behind current league leaders Liverpool. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that they have had one of the toughest starts to the season, with their next fixtures against Chelsea and Nottingham Forest meaning they will have played all top ten teams in the points table inside their first 12 fixtures. Injuries, discipline issues, and referee howlers have further made things worse for Arteta and Co.

Also read: Arsenal FC Sponsors 2024/25

More importantly, the absence of Ødegaard since September has also played a big part in Arsenal’s recent struggles. Apart from being their main creative force, the Norway international is also one of the most crucial players when it comes to leading their press, which in turn has seen Arsenal ship ten goals in their last six Premier League fixtures. 

However, there is some good news for the Arsenal faithful with reports coming out of London suggesting that Ødegaard, Jurriën Timber, and Riccardo Califiori are all close to returning to full match fitness.

With games coming thick and fast over the festive period, the onus will be on Arteta and his players to bounce back and put on a consistent run. Both Liverpool and ManCCity will have the same set of fixtures and injuries to navigate. 

Although there’s already a significant gap between them and the league leaders, with 28 games remaining, there’s enough time for Arsenal to get their act together. Make no mistakes, though: with their recent blemishes, there’s very little margin for errors.