Are Arsenal Blowing Their Premier League Title Chance for the Fourth Season in a Row?

Premier League table since October, but will they stay there? After their 3-2 home defeat to a rejuvenated Manchester United, Mikel Arteta’s men are now winless in three league matches. Goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest preceded the defeat to Man United, which has got fans and pundits fearing for Arsenal’s title chances. After all, the Gunners finished as runners-up in each of the last three seasons.

Having developed a reputation as “bottlers”, Arteta will no doubt do everything he can to get over the line. So let’s take a look back at the last three campaigns to see how Arsenal lost the title each season. We’ll attempt to spot any patterns in how Arsenal fell short, and we’ll ponder whether things will be different this time.

Arsenal As Runners-Up – A Summary

Here’s a summary of each of Arsenal’s last three Premier League seasons:

And, for comparison, let’s see the equivalent stats from the current season:

Now let’s delve a little deeper into what happened as Arsenal finished second three times in a row.

2022/23 – Disappointing Run-in with Only Three Wins from Final Nine Games

• Champions: Manchester City
• Arsenal lost to: Man United (away), Everton (away), Man City (home), Man City (away), Brighton (home), Nottingham Forest (away)

Arsenal came into this season off the back of a disappointing 2021/22 campaign in which they finished only fifth. Having amassed just 69 points the season before, hopes were not high of a realistic push for the title. Arsenal got off to a flyer, however, and won their first five games. Their first of six defeats came against Manchester United at Old Trafford. But 11 wins and two draws followed from the Gunners’ next 13 matches, and the title looked within their grasp.

Unfortunately, the Gunners had a lapse in form in February 2023. Arsenal avenged their earlier defeat to Man United when they won 3-2 on home soil. They followed up, however, by losing at Everton, drawing at home to Brentford and losing at home to Man City. To their credit, Arteta’s men got back on track and won their next seven on the spin. Then came their run of four draws, followed by their second defeat of the campaign to eventual champions Man City. Until that point, the Gunners had been top after 30 of the 33 gameweeks. But once Pep Guardiola’s City reached the pinnacle, they stayed there. Arsenal lost two of their five remaining games and had to settle for second, finishing five points behind Man City.

2023/24 – Dismal December Damages Gunners’ Hopes As City Clinch Crown

• Champions: Manchester City
• Arsenal lost to: Newcastle (away), Aston Villa (away), West Ham (home), Fulham (away), Aston Villa (home)

Despite the disappointment of the previous season, the Gunners began the 2023/24 campaign brightly and were unbeaten going into November. Their first loss came at Newcastle, but Arteta’s men made it to the top of the table after two more victories.

It was Arsenal’s appalling drop in form in December that cost them the title, however. After a narrow 4-3 victory at Luton on 5th December, the Gunners went down 1-0 at Aston Villa. They bounced back to win 2-0 at home against Brighton. But then drew at Liverpool and lost back-to-back games to London opponents. First, and perhaps most damagingly, Arteta’s side fell to a shock 2-0 home defeat to West Ham. They followed up with an equally surprising 2-1 defeat at Fulham on New Year’s Eve.

Arsenal only lost one more league match for the rest of the season, 2-0 at home to Villa. But ultimately, those two against-the-odds defeats to West Ham and Fulham made all the difference as Man City were crowned champions by a margin of just two points.

2024/25 – Too Many Draws Cost Arsenal the Title

• Champions: Liverpool
• Arsenal lost to: Bournemouth (away), Newcastle (away), West Ham (home), Bournemouth (home)

Arsenal only lost four matches during the 2024/25 Premier League season, the same number as the champions Liverpool. The problem was that the Gunners drew a whopping 14 of their 38 matches, the second most in the division. For some sides, this could be considered 14 points won. But for Arsenal, hoping to win their first title since 2003/04, this was undoubtedly 28 points dropped.

In the end, this meant the title race wasn’t even close as Arne Slot’s Reds romped to glory by 10 points. One of the main reasons that Arteta’s men struggled to put games to bed was the relative lack of goals. After scoring impressive totals of 88 goals in 2022/23 and 91 in 2023/24, the Gunners managed just 69 in 2024/25. That meant they ended up all-square with the likes of Brighton (twice), Fulham, Everton (twice), Crystal Palace and Brentford, among others. With just five wins from their final 13 games, the Gunners finished way off the pace.

2025/26 – Will Arsenal Hold Firm to Win the Title This Time?

• Champions: to be confirmed…
• Arsenal lost to (so far): Liverpool (away), Aston Villa (away), Man United (home)

After not scoring enough goals in 2024/25, Arsenal splashed the cash in the summer to acquire Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke to bolster their attack. At the time of writing, Arsenal have had a fantastic campaign, domestically and in the Champions League. They looked almost unstoppable for much of the first half of the campaign. The league defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa looked like anomalies. Especially when Arteta’s men followed the Villa defeat with five straight league wins (including a 4-1 win over Villa).

With their nearest challengers for the title, Man City and Aston Villa, dropping points, Arsenal looked nailed on for the title. And then came their recent mini-slump. First, Liverpool visited the Emirates, and Arsenal failed to score in a league match for the first time since August. Coincidentally, that came in their 1-0 defeat at Anfield. This time, the sides battled out a 0-0 draw. It wasn’t a disaster for the North Londoners. But they followed up with another 0-0, this time against struggling Nottingham Forest, and then came the damaging 3-2 home defeat to Manchester United.

United are on a relative high after Michael Carrick has taken charge and after beating Man City. But the Red Devils rode their luck a little and had only three shots on target – scoring them all. As such, we would suggest that Arsenal fans do not panic at this stage.

Arsenal Fans: Don’t Lose Hope

Looking at the last three seasons, there’s no recurring pattern as to why Arsenal failed to land the title. Obviously, going three games without a win isn’t going to do them any favours. Looking at the upcoming fixtures, however, should give some hope for Arsenal fans. Eight of the next nine matches are eminently winnable: Leeds, Sunderland, Brentford, Spurs, Brighton, Everton, Wolves, and Bournemouth.

The games against Chelsea (1st March) and Man City (18th April) could prove crucial, but we think Arsenal will hold their nerve this time around. The squad is far stronger, and Arteta has far more attacking options than in previous seasons. All in all, the experience gained from previous disappointments should prove invaluable as Arsenal, finally, land the title.