5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title

5 reaons Arsenal lost the Premier League title – The Gunners’ build-up to losing the title came in the early weeks of the season, and their final defeat of the season is only made the face of it.

Arsenal finished behind Manchester City in the race for the Premier League trophy for the second year running, coming agonizingly close this season but lost out on the final day of the season.

Despite an impressive season for Mikel Arteta and his minions, some needless slips have amounted to making them fall short this term.

Arsenal led the way heading into Gameweek 33, where they were humbled 2-0 in the Emirates by their former boss Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, thus leaving Manchester City with the chance to go top by winning their game in hand.

That was The Gunners’ only Premier League loss since the turn of the year, and including their draw with Manchester City in the Ethiad, makes up the two times they have dropped points in 18 games in 2024 in the competition.

Although that loss became detrimental to their title bid, categorically, there were 5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title to Manchester City, and they go beyond the loss between their two-legged UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie with Bayern Munich.

In this article, we look at the 5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title.

5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title

1. Poor start to the season

Arsenal set the bar so high last season that they had became one of the favourites to dethrone Manchester City of the crown. Unfortunately, they had an uncharacteristic start to the season.

The home draws to Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur were two games where the Gooners started to blow their chances. An early error from Aaron Ramsdale gave Fulham the lead out of nothing.

Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah scored to turn it around and Arsenal looked set to seal all the points, however, they conceded a cheap goal late on through Joao Palhinha as the spoils was shared in the Emirates..

Against Tottenham Hotspur, a cheap giveaway by Jorginho costed them two points, as Heung-Min Son completed his brace in a two all draw.

Arsenal won all of their London derby games last season, except their one at home against Brentford later in the season. Too bad they could take more than a point in each of the games against Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and even Chelsea in October.

2. Distasteful December

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Arsenal looked to have unweaved their poor start the season and are looking strong, until they hosted West Ham United after Christmas and there, their downfall literally began.

Title contenders are expected to win at home, even so playing against a team like West Ham United. In the end, it finished 2-0 to the visitors thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek and former Arsenal man Dinos Mavropanos.

A few days later, Fulham came from a goal down to beat Arsenal 2-1 in Craven Cottage. At that time, all and sundry had ruled Mikel Arteta’s men out of the title race and even after impressing since the turn of the year, the impact of those results they never escape.

Three of Arsenal’s five Premier League this season came in December, and that alone is too much to deserve the Premier League title.

3. Unfavorable VAR decisions

Arsenal conceded a controversial goal at Newcastle United. The referee could have disallowed Anthony Gordon’s goal for three different queries. The ball being out of play, foul on Gabriel and offside.

In the end, Stuart Attwell went with the decision to award the goal, and Arsenal suffered their first league defeat of the season.

In the loss to Aston Villa in December, Arsenal had a goal ruled out by the VAR and Gabriel Jesus also won a foul off Douglas Luiz, one that is easily awarded a penalty any other day. Unfortunately, not that day.

5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title

During their loss at West Ham United in late December, the ball appeared to have gone out of play in the build-up to Tomas Soucek’s opener but the decision went the visitors’ way, thus the goal stood.

Though the Gunners had VAR decisions that went their way but a title contender needs more luck when it comes down to situations involving the VAR. Even Manchester City is not an exception.

4. London rivals ruined the show

London rivals represent a major part in the 5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title.

Most of the points dropped by Arsenal in the season came against London teams who all bowed to champions Manchester City, except Chelsea.

Arsenal took just a point in their two meetings with Fulham while West Ham United dealth a heavy blow to their cause with the 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in December.

Even against Chelsea and Spurs, they took four points each, whereas they won all fixtures in the 2022-23 campaign.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Fulham and West Ham United both fell to Pep Guardiola’s men, including their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur where it mattered the most.

Tottenham Hotspur, who had won each of their four previous home league meetings with City, without conceding a goal could not afford to hold on in their London stadium, when only a draw would have been enough for Arsenal.

Heung-Min Son has a reputation as one of the most clinical finishers in the Premier League but on that night, the Spurs captain missed two big chances, including a one-on-one at a very delicate stage of the game, with City leading by a lone goal and heading into the final ten minutes.

Manchester City defeated the aforementioned London trio in their final three fixtures on their way to making history, becoming the first club to win four straight titles in the Premier League era.

5. Mikel Arteta’s own fault

Mikel Arteta’s own doing is one of the 5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title. It was rather too late before the Spaniard realized what works best for his team.

Eddie Nketiah started as the striker in seven of Arsenal’s first eight league games of the season, which posed serious questions about their title credentials.

In that period came their draws in the London derbies against Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. The Englishman was also the starting striker in the loss to Newcastle United.

While Eddie Nketiah is not the worst striker in the league, it is also worth noting that the Englishman will not start in the team of their felllow contenders. Not even at clubs like Newcastle, Aston Villa, Everton, or Brentford.

Moreso, Gabriel Jesus is not effective leading the line as he doesn’t have the impressive records in front of goal. Until Kai Havertz was played as the main striker did Arsenal finally get going. Unfortunately, it was a little too late.

Both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah finished the league season with nine goals in a combined 54 appearances. That’s not normal for a title contending club. Even strikers at relegation battling clubs will do better.

Unfortunately, Mikel Arteta returned the German to midfield in their home game against Aston Villa in April and the result was their final league loss of the campaign, same loss directly responsible for their not winning the league.

Thomas Partey and Jorginho were both on the bench but in order to accommodate a rather wasteful Jesus, Havertz was deployed in midfield. They never really get going even as their captain Martin Ødegaard worked his socks off.

5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title

Eventually, Arsenal have to settle for a second place finish for a consecutive season but the season did not go without leaving behind a sense of optimism.

The future is bright but the pressure on Mikel Arteta is now on another level. After two seasons of coming close and falling short, fans will demand successful henceforth and the words will not be too kind should the Gunners find themselves in the same position next season.

These, categorically are the 5 reasons Arsenal lost the Premier League title. While it could be more and may include individual errors and the likes, these are the major ones, and the ones that are self-inflicted are what they should look to correct in the future.

Hassan Afolabi