Are Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes over?

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Heading into the 2024/25 season, Arsenal were once again expected to battle it out with Manchester City for the Premier League title having pushed them close in the previous two campaigns. The Gunners had replaced Liverpool as City’s main threat and Mikel Arteta was primed to go head-to-head with mentor Pep Guardiola once again this season for the crown.

However, City have suffered a shock drop in form that has seen them spend much of the season battling just to finish in the top four, and a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool last weekend ended any faint hopes they could retain their title this season. With Guardiola’s men out of the picture, surely this was Arsenal’s year to finally end their 21-year title drought?

Early title hopes derailed

After a solid start to the season that saw Arsenal pick up wins away to Aston Villa and Tottenham and draw at Manchester City, we were right in the mix at the top of the table. However, things took a turn for the worse in October when we lost 2-0 away to Bournemouth following William Saliba’s controversial red card. We then blew a lead to draw 2-2 at home to Liverpool and lost 1-0 away to Newcastle United with the team putting in one of our worse performances of the season at St James’ Park.

Arsenal once again let slip a lead to draw 1-1 away to Chelsea in November meaning we’d taken just two points from a possible 12 in the league. This poor run left us sitting fourth in the table and nine points adrift of run-away leaders Liverpool. We managed to recover with wins over Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Manchester United but the winning streak didn’t last long as we then drew 1-1 away to Fulham before being held to a hugely disappointing 0-0 draw at home by Everton.

Again, we managed to get back to winning ways with three victories on the spin against Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Brentford over the Christmas and New Year period. However, the recovery didn’t last long as we were held to a 1-1 draw away to Brighton thanks to a hugely controversial penalty. We were then dumped out of the domestic cups at the hands of Manchester United and Newcastle United which really hit the morale around the club as two realistic trophy chances were gone inside a week.

City thrashing

After a hugely disappointing start to 2025, Arsenal managed to come from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the North London Derby and many hoped that would act as a springboard for the second half of the season. We looked to be heading to a vital win over Aston Villa – holding a 2-0 lead in the 55th minute – but capitulated to draw 2-2 to further dent our fading title hopes.

Despite the ridiculous red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal managed to beat Wolves 1-0 at Molineux before thrashing defending champions Manchester City 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium. It was a stunning second half performance from Arsenal to dismantle City and fans hoped this would provide the impetus to close the gap on Liverpool.

However, once again, just as we looked to pick up a head of steam, Arsenal’s campaign took a devastating blow as Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz were ruled out with serious injuries shortly after the January window had closed. With no new signings this winter and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus already on the sidelines, Arsenal’s attack had been obliterated.

We managed to beat Leicester City 2-0 but the lack of firepower was evident in the last two games as we slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham before a bore 0-0 draw away to Nottingham Forest. These results have left us sitting 13 points adrift of Liverpool in second place.

Over?

Even if we win our game in hand, it’s going to take a miracle for Arsenal to catch the Merseysiders as it’s almost impossible to see this injury-hit squad making up a 10-point deficit in just 10 games. We do visit Anfield in May in what would be a must-win game if we want to stand a chance of catching Liverpool. However, even the most optimistic of fans with Liverpool vs Arsenal tickets know how tough it will be to claim three points at Anfield.

If Arsenal had a fully fit squad – as Liverpool currently do – then we may still be able to hold out some hope. However, the fact we are without our four main attackers and have no recognised striker means the task is impossible at this point. Arsenal would need to win all their remaining 11 games and hope Liverpool lose at least four of their last 10 – which is highly unlikely considering they’ve only lost 5 of their last 70+ league games.

The problem is it’s hard to see Arsenal scoring goals right now given our lack of attacking options and the crisis isn’t going to be over any time soon. Saka and Martinelli aren’t expected to return until April and even then they’ll need to be eased back into action. In the meantime, we have to play Manchester United away and Chelsea at home either side of our Champions League last-16 tie with PSV with a threadbare attack. It’s difficult to see us winning those matches with only Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Raheem Sterling as senior attacking options.

Even if we do somehow beat United and Chelsea, we still have to win all our other games against the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Fulham and Bournemouth to stand a chance and then pray Liverpool capitulate. They are so strong right now and they just don’t look like dropping nearly enough points to let Arsenal back into the race.

When we look back to see where things went wrong, it’s difficult to pick one specific point for Arsenal as so much seems to have gone against us this season. We’ve been on the receiving end of countless refereeing decisions that have cost us valuable points and we’ve been decimated by injuries. Fans will also point out that the decision not to strengthen the attack last summer or in January played a vital role in our poor campaign.

Sadly, it looks like our wait for the title will go on and it will be fans with Liverpool tickets who will be celebrating in May. There is also the possibility that Arsenal will have to give Liverpool a guard of honour when the two teams meet at Anfield in May, which will only rub salt in the wounds.

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