Have Arsenal lost the Premier League title?

When the final whistle blew on this season’s first league meeting of Arsenal and Manchester City, the visitors were all smiles, and knew they had climbed to the top of the table for the first time since August. They had moved ahead of their vanquished opponent on goal difference, albeit that Arsenal have a game in hand, and there is now a very solid feeling that the title is City’s to lose.

Arsenal have picked up a single point from a possible nine in games against Everton, Brentford and Manchester City. They now have a huge task ahead of them to get things back on track, and bettors looking at sinlicencia.org are now feeling very strongly that a bet on Manchester City would be the smart move right now. The question has to be asked: after leading for half the season, have Arsenal kissed goodbye to the Premier League for 2022/23?

Probably, yes

This is no knock on Arsenal. They lost at Everton in the Toffees’ first match under a new coach who is famous for getting blood and thunder from limited players. They drew with Brentford thanks to a decision that was demonstrably unfair. They have been unfortunate, and had they had these issues in games that weren’t clustered together, it might not have mattered. But that’s football, and it did mean that they came into a home game with Manchester City with more nerves than they might otherwise have had, and Manchester City are experts at exploiting opponents’ nervousness.

But maybe not

Manchester City won at the Emirates looking like the best team in England. This came days after they battered Aston Villa and has made them look like a team with the finish line in their sights. But then, it also comes just a short while after they went to Tottenham and lost 1-0. That’s the Tottenham that then went on to lose 4-1 at Leicester, who have been dire this season. Arsenal do need to stop dropping points if they are to get back into control in the league, but it’s far from impossible that the reigning champions will come unglued again as they did at Tottenham.

They need a few easy wins

One element of Arsenal’s resurgence under Mikel Arteta is that they have been far less prone to stupid defeats than they were for years under a series of managers. With a run of games against Villa, Leicester and Everton in their next three, they should be capable of picking up maximum points. They are under more pressure now than they have been at any time since Arteta’s appointment, but a few routine wins would calm that pressure and force their rivals to take the title rather than have it gifted to them. By the beginning of March, we’ll know a lot more about the Gunners’ chances.