Arsenal entered the 2024-2025 season empty-handed after the previous two seasons. Although they were a prominent team in the Premier League, second only to Man City, looking back, Mikel Arteta and his team still could not bring any more titles to the Emirates Stadium's trophy room.
There are many explanations for this problem. For The Gunners, the FA Cup or League Cup are not the ultimate goals, so exhausting themselves in these arenas is unnecessary.
However, they were not strong enough to win the Champions League, so they focused all their energy and mind on the Premier League. Unfortunately, Pep Guardiola's Man City in previous seasons were too strong, winning 6/7 of the last seasons. The only team that defeated Pep Guardiola's team was Liverpool in 2020.
Arsenal tried to climb the waterfall, accepting to compete with the strongest team in English football and received defeat twice. This season, when Man City experienced the worst losing streak in the Premier League era and was knocked out of the Top 4, Arsenal could not rise to the top because of a familiar name in recent years, that is Liverpool.
In the most unlikely scenario, the Gunners probably didn't think Liverpool would be so good in their first season with Arne Slot. The Kop raced ahead, leading both the Premier League and Champions League. While Liverpool were only defeated by the Nottingham Forest phenomenon, Arsenal's losses to Bournemouth, Newcastle, Fulham, Everton and Brighton had broken the Gunners' will many times.
They drew with both Liverpool and Man City but could not hold their own against teams that were considered weaker. In the context of the increasingly competitive tournament, opponents who were previously weak teams also rose up, Arsenal had to be really strong, people associated with the image of invincibility like Man City or Liverpool. Unfortunately, they have not done it yet.
When the defense was reinforced and quite solid, Arsenal had to play with one less player in many matches due to unnecessary mistakes. At the beginning of the season, there was a period when they received 3 red cards in 8 matches. In two of those matches, the Gunners still kept 1 point and had 1 bitter defeat. A true champion in the current competitive context, in addition to good attack and tight defense, not making silly mistakes is also a prerequisite.
The hesitation in the transfer market, especially in attack, has caused Arsenal a lot of difficulties. They have 2 strikers, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, but both are just strikers assigned to the "number 9" position. Not to mention that when Bukayo Saka was injured, the "Gunners" no longer had anyone who could take on the striker position on the right wing.
Arsenal are likened to the image of a "cannon", but when they need goals, they come a lot from corner kicks. From the beginning of the 2023-2024 season to Christmas 2024, The Gunners have scored 23 goals from corner kicks. They are called by the Premier League homepage with the catchy nickname "Corner Kings". Scoring a lot of goals from corner kicks is not a bad thing, but when that powerful weapon cannot be used effectively, Arsenal reveals a weak and lacking attack.
Defending will make you a champion but if the attack is not good, winning is something you cannot grasp. Arsenal need to win, win as much as possible, even at the cost of some defensive errors. If they don't win, don't get many 3 points, when will they be able to catch Liverpool?
That was the story of expertise on the pitch, but on the coaching bench, the sudden departure of assistant Edu Gaspar was a huge shock at Emirates Stadium. The close relationship between Arteta and Edu in the process of rebuilding the squad has brought many successes, bringing the "Gunners". From depending on older, high-salary players like Aubameyang and Ozil, Arsenal has become a young, enthusiastic team with pillars like Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
Right in the season when they thought they could win the Premier League, many unexpected events suddenly happened to Arsenal, not just the injury storm. Many doubts about Mikel Arteta's future began to arise because no matter what he did, if Arsenal still lost on all fronts, all arguments would become meaningless.
