Arsenal’s Premier League title aspirations could face a severe early-season setback as they approach two crucial away fixtures against Tottenham and Manchester City. Currently trailing City by two points, the Gunners risk falling as much as eight points behind the defending champions after just five games.
The North London derby at Tottenham’s home ground presents the first hurdle, followed by a daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium. These fixtures come at a challenging time for Arsenal, with key midfielder Declan Rice suspended and new signing Mikel Merino sidelined due to injury.
While an eight-point deficit wouldn’t mathematically end Arsenal’s title hopes, history suggests that overcoming such a gap against Pep Guardiola’s relentless City side is a monumental task. The psychological impact of falling so far behind so early could prove detrimental to the team’s confidence and momentum.
Adding to Arsenal’s concerns, Liverpool’s blistering start to the season introduces another formidable competitor. The Reds’ resurgence means Arsenal could potentially find themselves eight points adrift of both City and Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta’s side now faces a defining moment in their campaign. Positive results in these upcoming matches are crucial not only for maintaining their title challenge but also for asserting their status among the Premier League’s elite.
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It’s very tough to win EPL if Arsenal have to play against twelve men in many games and get a lot of injuries
We could lose at the Etihad, but not in the NLD
Season is by no means “over” after 3 or even 5 games.
However it is a fair point that you don’t want to be trailing City by 8 points. Hoping they lose 3 matches while you have to be perfect yourself is quite stressful.
I believe our fellas learned a valuable lesson early in the season, and they will fight back even stronger and harder now.
After yesterday’s match Arsenal would be the last club I would want to face; talented squad, chip on their shoulder, and looking to make a statement.
I have more confidence now against City than any time over the last 2 years.
Despite Liverpool’s bright start I expect they will drop off as they are an aging team. City on the other hand look much more scarily efficient, although not as strong on paper as in previous seasons. It’s a golden opportunity for Arsenal but I also have my reservations. A lot will depend on whether Arteta has got it right in signing Merino and Stirling because there isn’t enough quality in the middle and p front.
One more injury in the midfield and we are done,unless Arteta convert one of the 9 defenders to play in midfield.
Poor planning with the size of the squad could be very costly.
If we drop points against Spuds and City the title challenge will be over for us.
Why is that?
Because we will highly likely be 8 points behind with only 5 games played.
1. Closing that gap will be mission impossible.
2. Belief and confidence of our players will take a huge hit and it might lead to more losses.
3. Opponents will cease to fear us and will go after maximum points every game we play.
Good thing is if we get the points the opposite will be true.
Raya has really improved and I loved Havertz finish, it showed confidence. While Arteta’s success has relied mostly on strict adherence to strategy, I think the team needs some freedom to be able to adapt to unforeseen situations, like the red card Rice received. The team looked disorganized and struggled to assert themselves, yet we’ve seen teams going down a man and still win.
We need to WIN against Man City, for two reasons: to stop them going unbeaten and the obvious one of increasing our chances of winning the league
What you are saying make a lot sense to me because out attack was lost after the red card. I thought if we had a kind of player that makes something out of nothing we might create chances when things don’t go for us. It reminded me of how Isak made that brilliant assist out of nowhere when Newcastle were 10 men against Southampton.
The only player we have of that calibre is Trossard who is only effective as a sub.
Havertz, good as he has been, is a kind of player who performs only when everything goes right.
I don’t think the season will be over if Arsenal don’t pick up maximum points against Sp*rs or get anything from the City game.
However, there were a number of posts on JA before the season started pointing out the importance of making a really good start. What Arsenal may be looking at (worst case scenario) after the City game certainly wouldn’t be that.
Agree, the season is way way too long and unpredictable especially with the UCL changes to draw any conclusions even after the Spurs and City contests regardless of how they turn out.
Arsenal will rebound from Saturday’s match no matter who the next opponent is. Arsenal is a prominent team in the EPL and should prioritize their own strengths over glorifying other teams.
Arsenal cant win the league because its becoming abundantly clear that PMGOL don’t want us too. It hard enough catching City without them getting the support from Refs whilst they are jumping at the chance to send our players off, give goals that never went in and let the opposition decide the length of the pitch
Oh, come on. Over a 38-game season I hope that Arsenal wouldn’t fall back on that kind of argument to justify not winning the title. It’s a bit lame to say to least.
How did that kind of bias effect Arsenal’s challenge in 2022-23 and 2023-24? Or is it just this season when the decisions (and not just only in the Brighton game presumably) will go against us?
So in the last two title races decisions never went against City and In our favour ?
Its too early to say that a loss to Spurs and City will destroy our future. Arsenal will surly win at Spurs and for City, we will see aftet 90 minutes
After watching City and Liverpool in the weekend matches, my confidence level has fallen drastically. The performances of those two were far above Arsenal’s in the three matches so far played. Injuries and suspension of our key players is not only going to worsen the situation.
But the season is only just starting; we will keep the faith and keep trusting the process
City and Pool were immense, but we must remember that, up and until the sending off, we were in complete control of the game against a very good Brighton side.
Yes, we have injuries to Merino, Tierney and Gabriel, but that shouldn’t be an excuse.
What is the point of buying the likes of Califiori and Sterling if they aren’t able to step into the breech?
They are both experienced, professional players and internationals as well.