Arsenal is one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Don’t tell us it isn’t so. We are not biased. You do not have to be number one to fit into that category. Childish discussions should be left in the X comment section. Arsenal is a club with a storied history. A rich club. The loyal fan base is there. Playing their home games in one of the world’s biggest capitals, London. Add the state-of-the-art stadium, The Emirates, to the mix, and you get all the makings of a big club. Let’s not forget Arsenal is filthy rich.
So, what needs to be added to the equation? We’re going to be childish here. The trophies need to be added. A sporadic FA Cup win here and there won’t make it anymore. Arsenal needs one of the two big trophies in their cabinet. Yes, Arsenal has won the Premier League in the past, but it’s been more than two decades since the last win. It was a memorable win, nonetheless. Arsenal Invincibles will be remembered in a hundred years, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If they do, football is not their area of expertise.
A Champions League would be an excellent addition to Arsenal’s trophy cabinet, as they have never lifted the trophy. In the last 20 years, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City have all managed to win the CL at least once, some of them two times. This is a wound that stings Arsenal fans, but we can all agree that every faithful Gunner would instead lift the Premier League again and that they would be satisfied with a CL win but without domestic success. But can they do it? Can Arsenal jump over domestic rivals in a fashionable title run?
Arsenal is one of the top Premier League teams. They have always been, but in the last decade, they didn’t have too much to show for it. There have been years when Arsenal didn’t even make it to the top four, which was a bare minimum standard once set by Arsene Wenger, who kept some poor Arsenal teams in Champions League spots despite all of his flaws. Professor was one of a kind, and the hole his departure left at the Emirates hasn’t been filled since.
Things have changed, and they’ve changed a lot since Mikel Arteta was appointed as the new head coach. The Spaniard is an Arsenal man, through and through, and after some time spent with Manchester City, learning under Pep Guardiola, he took the mantle of Arsenal’s savior. It took Arteta some time to get things right and to get the boys playing his way, but we can now say that he is doing a good job. He even added a trophy to Arsenal’s cabinet, and the club is once again a mainstay in the Champions League.
The Gunners now have an established style of play. They’re a tough team to break, solid defensively, able to play on the counter and hold possession if needed. The team consists of quality players brought in under Arteta’s supervision. You could say that Arsenal started playing good football once all the deadweight that waited for Mikel was gone. Nowadays, Arsenal boasts the likes of Martin Odegaard, a former genuine Madrid prodigy, as their captain, Bukayo Saka as their homegrown talent, Gabriel and Saliba as the best CB pairing in the world probably, and the likes of Calafiori, Timber, and White, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Trossard, Havertz, Partey, Jorginho, Raya, and Rice among many other top players this Arsenal side has.
Still, the jury is out on this team despite the undoubted quality. Arsenal finished each of the last two seasons in second place, showing that they are a title contender after all these years. This season and this one matters more than results from the past, started shaky for the Gunners. Injuries took their toll on Arteta’s side, and Arsenal is currently sitting third in the league. With two-thirds of the season left to go, they have an outside chance of mounting a title challenge. Premier League 2024/2025 predictions are putting Arsenal as one of the top contenders this year.
At the start of the season, we all saw Manchester City as the one. While the Citizens are always a threat, this is not their year. Their game has fallen apart after an injury to Rodri during the bout with Arsenal. The City is on a losing streak, and Guardiola hasn’t had it in his entire career. City is losing games in cups, CL, and Premier League without a pardon. The once-feared opponent is now an injured gazelle being chased by leopards. Pep will find a way for his team to bounce back to winning ways, but if they don’t hit their recognizable stride in the coming weeks, they could be out of the title picture before Christmas.
In City’s absence, the title of the leading contender took Liverpool. The Reds have feared that life after Jurgen Klopp will not be a fairy tale but a nightmare. Oh, how they were wrong. The German coach left a fabulous squad for Arne Slot to work with, and the Dutchman took every advantage he could and made The Reds an absolute juggernaut. Liverpool has never played better, so they’re topping the table, leaving their competitors behind. When writing this article, Liverpool is England’s number-one team with 31 points. City is second with 23, while Arsenal sits third with 22. While nine points seem like a lot, there is a long way to go until the end of the season. We do not wish any harm on Liverpool and their players, but they’re the only one of the top teams that haven’t had any injuries to their top players and have been playing their top game from the first matches. It is hard to believe they will maintain this standard throughout the year. The City is falling apart, while Arsenal is starting to find its groove.
Arsenal needs to be what Mikel Arteta wants them to be: a solid team that’s not leaking goals, wins winnable games, and closes in derby games. Arsenal needs to do what City has been doing for the past few years – finding the proper form at the right moment. The Gunners must not drop any points in the rest of the season due to inferior competition and must keep their ground in the big games. With such an approach, they can pile up a few wins and get closer to Liverpool. In the long run, they have the depth to keep things close throughout the year. Could they add a natural No9 in the January transfer window? That would solve it all.