It's extremely likely the club's trophy drought will reach the five-year mark, with questions being asked over the manager and his mentality
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Arsenal no longer need an on-field miracle to catch Liverpool in this season's Premier League title race, rather an inexplicable reason for the table-topping Reds to be deducted points. The gap from Arne Slot's men to the Gunners stands at 15 after this weekend's results, with Southampton beaten 3-1 at Anfield 24 hours prior to Arsenal's frustrating 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
The likelihood is, for a third successive year, the red half of north London will have to settle for silver instead of silverware. Manchester City pipped them to the post on the previous two occasions, and now Slot's Liverpool have proven far too strong a matchup over the course of a season.
Considering where Arteta found Arsenal – toiling in mid-table amid a failed rebuild following Arsene Wenger's departure – there has been remarkable progress at the Emirates Stadium. But questions remain over whether the team and club in this current iteration have what it takes to shake off their 'contender' status and become winners.
Being held by the worst United team in a generation, and perhaps being a little grateful to even leave the north-west with a draw, was the latest in a long line of gut-punches Arsenal have had to withstand during this hellish domestic season. And despite all the caveats brought about by injuries and extenuating circumstances, there's no guarantee things get better for them.
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportKeane's criticism
Never one shy to air his feelings, Roy Keane was particularly scathing in his assessment of Arsenal, not only in Sunday's draw at United, but the trajectory of their project under Arteta.
Asked by presenter David Jones if the Gunners could win the 2025-26 Premier League with the Spaniard at the helm, the ex-United captain replied. "No. Why would I? What makes you think the manager can do it? They've got close over the last few years, but [Manchester] City will be strong next year and I'm sure Liverpool will be too.
"Where is the evidence to think they can do it? Getting a striker in would help, have they got the right mentality? Has the manager? You see a different side to them when they're winning every week, but they get all agitated when they're losing.
"I don't think getting a striker in who'll score 20 goals a season will necessarily be the difference. Will City and Liverpool just stand still? They're going to look to improve, Pep [Guardiola] will bounce back and I think Liverpool will be stronger next season. We don't know where Chelsea are, but what's the evidence of this group of players that they can do it?
"It's alright challenging, but it should be about winning titles."
AdvertisementAFPUndoubted promise
The questions over Arteta's credentials to this point have been disingenuous and attention-seeking. Of the 10 managers in history to have recorded more than 100 wins from their first 200 games as manager, the ex-midfielder ranks fifth (118), with only Pep Guardiola (146), Jose Mourinho (137), Jurgen Klopp (127) and Sir Alex Ferguson (122) coming away with higher tallies. Arsenal's two-season rolling average of 86.5 points from 2022 to 2024 is their highest ever at any point of their history. The numbers don't lie.
The Gunners are no longer the laughing stock they were throughout Wenger's final years, Unai Emery's short-lived spell or even the first 18 months of Arteta's reign. He has completely reinvented the team in his image, restored a dying club to conversations that matter. For that, he deserves enormous credit – it's hard to imagine many other managers walking into N5 back in 2019 and doing a better job.
For these reasons, Arsenal fans are particularly protective of their manager, and not just because he was an important player for them during the twilight years of his past life. When it comes to picking holes in Arteta's approach to date, they're right to get their tails up. Supporters liking the person in the dugout and wanting them to succeed compared to asking questions of how the future may actually look do not have to agree with one another, however.
AFPCracking up?
It's rather ludicrous how often managers have to front up for the media, sometimes taking six press conferences in a week, plus an additional six interviews pre-match and post-match for TV. That is, however, part of their job in the modern day, and a young coach like Arteta should know the importance of saving face.
Not for the first time, he lost his cool in the aftermath of a disappointing result. When quizzed by ' Patrick Davison about the title race, he walked off set. This show of petulance came three weeks after he claimed conceding to Liverpool would have to come "over my dead body". Since then, Arsenal have taken two points from nine available in the Premier League.
Arsenal have been afforded a bit more grace than some of their other rivals in recent years as part of recognition that Arteta picked them up from such a low ebb. That kindness has slipped this season and there is more demand than ever for them to not only win a trophy, but the Premier League title itself, particularly with Guardiola's City toiling.
The 2024-25 season will likely go down as a missed opportunity for Arsenal. Whether they'll have the energy to go again next term is another can of worms.
Getty Images SportNeed for evolution
Keane, part of various United teams who always found new ways to win, made an important point about teams needing to evolve. The expectation is City will be back with a new cohort of stars, that Liverpool will re-tool regardless of what happens to out-of-contract trio Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk.
So what of Arsenal? As the Irishman suggested, the obvious next step is a big-name striker to add more firepower, but the Gunners' problems run deeper. Their only improvement on this season compared to last is their set-piece proficiency and menace, yet even then the goals have started to dry up in that department. This current iteration of the team cannot hold a torch to their 2022-23 and 2023-24 selves.
The easy answer to the question of why this has happened is injuries. For two years, the Gunners got by with only William Saliba's back problem, which ended his 2022-23 campaign, as the only major headache for Arteta to contend with. Tugging at the string of squad depth has exposed further issues this year, with both captain Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka missing months of action.
That can't be the only reason why Liverpool have sprinted 15 points ahead of them, though. Arsenal's regression from the league's premier entertainers to a slower and more methodical side has come at a cost. Their inability to maintain that extra attacking edge, or discover how to pick that pace up again, has had the same effect as sticking a Ferrari in farmland mud. Set-pieces were bailing them out to some extent and giving them that extra dimension, though that still hasn't been enough.
Arsenal have not only given up that threat in attack, but look much weaker at the back, despite that becoming the key point of focus. United, one of the least effective teams in the final third across all of Europe, found it far too easy to force David Raya into action. When performances are down across the board, it's a cry for tactical development, only Arteta has shown no desire to this point to stray away from his favoured system and routine structures of play.
It is this rigid approach which has ultimately led to Arsenal's decline from a tactical and footballing perspective. They've spent too long trying to perfect every little detail, attempting to become the best at the intricacies. Their obsession has been with control rather than winning at all means and costs.
