Many back this year as the year Arsenal finally finds redemption by winning the Premier League title. However, Mikel Arteta’s side has had a setback in the run-up to the international break, dropping points.
The loss 1-0 to Newcastle was not what fans with Arsenal tickets expected to see with more than half of the season to go.
For the fans with the Gunners for the longest, with tickets from the secondary marketplace, it feels like they’ve lost the race, even before it started.
The numbers aren’t adding up, and Arsenal’s game plan is being affected by the loss of a full-time world-class striker.
The 1-0 loss to Newcastle exposed this quite extensively, as Arsenal didn’t have that ‘extra player to get the job done.
It is not a comparison that one would often make, but fans withArsenal tickets see the caliber of players and their opponents and strike comparisons.
For example, Liverpool, one of their title rivals, has Mo Salah with them, who is capable of turning a game, even in the dying minutes. The same can be said for City, with the likes of Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
But for Arsenal, this has been long coming, and it just might be why fans with Arsenal ticketsfrom the secondary marketplace won’t see them lift a title this season.
Mikel Arteta’s side, runners-up to Manchester City in the previous two campaigns, trail leaders Liverpool by seven points after ten games following their 1-0 loss at Newcastle United on Saturday.
In 1994, Blackburn was the only team to come from further back after ten games and win the title. They trailed Newcastle by eight points but had played fewer games than the leaders.
The only other clubs to recover a similarly sizeable gap as the one Arsenal must now overcome were Manchester United in 2002-03 and Manchester City in 2013-14 and 2020-21, with each side trailing by six points after 10 games.
After three games without a win in the league and having dropped almost half the points they did in the entire last season, Arsenal has fallen to fourth—below Nottingham Forest.
While it can be too early to remove Arsenal from the title race, signs show that the club might need the right team composition to make it to the end of the first half of the season with injuries.
Fans with Arsenal tickets seem to be worried.
“There is still a long way to go in the season, but it is a long way back for Arsenal now,” former Gunners captain Martin Keown said on BBC’s Final Score.
“They only have themselves to blame for that. They have kept pace with City for the last two seasons, but they were not at the races. It is going to be a problematic dressing room.
“Arsenal didn’t turn up, didn’t play like champions, and are now nursing their wounds.”
Arsenal’s Poor Form
In the last six Premier League games, the club has been 1-0 behind in four.
In contrast to their previous run, they only trailed 1-0 four times in 31 games.
For the first time since December 2019, prior to Arteta’s arrival as manager, the Gunners have conceded the opening goal in three successive away matches in the Premier League.
Having only lost one of their first 25 Premier League games in 2024 (W21 D3), Arsenal have since lost two of their past three (D1). The Gunners have lost successive away matches in the league for the first time since May 2022.
Adding insult to injury, the fans with Arsenal tickets are worried about the team’s lack of shots on goal. In their five away games this season, the team has only had 37 shots, averaging just above 7 per game. To put this statistic into better perspective, only Brentford has fewer shots on goal (30) than Arsenal in away fixtures.
Arteta Wants The Team to Show Their Best
Over the past seven seasons, the top-flight champions have dropped an average of 20 points during their title-winning campaigns.
Arsenal have already dropped 12, having surrendered 25 when they finished two points behind City in May. The last season was a disastrous end for the fans, and they believed that third-time would be the charm.
But the odds aren’t favoring the Reds.
Manager Arteta, whose side went unbeaten and dropped just six points in their first 10 games last term, said: “After eight, nine or 10 games last year, we didn’t [talk about points], and we won’t talk about it now.
“It’s about how you react to that. We’re not going to find the right words or answers to describe how we feel. We have to put it on that field on Wednesday night against Inter [Milan in the Champions League].
“It’s not about the hope of winning the title; it’s about being our best selves every single week. Today, we weren’t our best version.”
Arsenal are seven points behind leaders Liverpool.
Fortunately for the Gunners, Manchester City, champions in six of the past seven seasons, also suffered defeat on Saturday as Pep Guardiola’s side lost 2-1 at Bournemouth.
Speaking on TNT Sports, former England midfielder Joe Cole said: “I think this league title will be won by fewer points than for a long time because there are too many good teams.
“A lot of people tipped them for the league, but I am second-guessing that now.”
Odegaard Missed
Injuries have prevented Arsenal from pursuing a title, and with key player Martin Odegaard out, there might be one missing piece to completing a winning team.
Odegaard suffered an ankle ligament injury while on international duty in September and is yet to recover.
Keown said: “They didn’t show any of their personality, and Odegaard was missed more [on Saturday] than I have ever seen.
“It was a seventh different back four in the past 10 games for Arsenal, but the Newcastle goal was basics. They have been so good at that before.”
Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock said: “Odegaard is the key player for Arsenal. He is unafraid to give the ball away by hitting that killer pass. He is the one missing.
“They had overtaken one of the best teams in the world, and people were tipping them to win the league because they thought you were ready for that next step.
“It shows what pressure does.”
The secondary marketplace has ample options for Arsenal tickets for the remainder of the season.
Connect with us
