Arsenal have finished Premier League runners-up in each of the last three seasons. It is their most consistently good run in 20 years, but 2024–25 was a missed opportunity as Manchester City fell away but Liverpool surged through to claim the title instead.
Consistency is important, but Mikel Arteta hasn’t delivered a trophy since an FA Cup run a few months into the job in 2019–20, and Arsenal fans want more. It has been 21 years and counting since the Gunners were last crowned champions—the longest title drought the club has ever had.
Liverpool won the title in Arne Slot’s first season without adding to the team he inherited from predecessor Jürgen Klopp, but have already gone big in the transfer market to secure a deal to sign Florian Wirtz for a record fee. Jeremie Frimpong has already arrived, Milos Kerkez is expected soon and there is renewed competition at goalkeeper with Giorgi Mamardashvili’s delayed arrival.
Manchester City have rebuilt too, adding eight new faces since the start of January alone.
It means the competition to be crowned champions is now even tougher, making a strong start vitally important if Arsenal, yet to match their closest rivals in terms of proactive recruitment, are to have any chance of going the distance.
But it’s far from a favourable fixture list in the early weeks of the campaign.
In August alone, it’s an away trip to Manchester United, who are hoping to be much improved, to begin, followed by Liverpool away two weeks later. In between, Arsenal’s first home game of the new season is newly promoted Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium—always a potential banana skin.
September is Nottingham Forest (H), Manchester City (H), and Newcastle United (A).
Of Arsenal’s first six fixtures, one is against the reigning champions, another is against the rebuilt four-peat former champions, and two others are top seven finishers from last season. Manchester United are an unknown quantity and typically performed better in bigger games, despite being poor overall.
If Arsenal begin well in August and September, even with the difficulty of the early fixture list, it will build confidence and underline their title credentials. But, by the same token, subpar results in those early weeks of the season could knock the Gunners too far behind with barely a ball kicked.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arsenal Given Stern Test of Premier League Title Credentials With Nightmare Start.