HAS ANYONE ever seen Arsenal and Gareth Southgate’s England in the same room?
During Southgate’s tenure, the Three Lions reached the finals of the Euros twice and got to the semis of the World Cup.
He took over an England team fresh from the humiliation of getting dumped out of Euro 2016 at the round of 16 stage by Iceland, coupled with Sam Allardyce’s brief, ill-fated reign.
Yet despite being their most successful manager since Alf Ramsey won the World Cup with the country in 1966, Southgate and England during that period will be remembered as nearly men, having failed to win a major trophy.
The Gunners under Arteta are in danger of suffering a similar fate.
After three successive second-place finishes, many pundits have predicted this will be the year when they finally secure a first Premier League title since they claimed the trophy under Arsene Wenger in 2004.
Like Southgate with England, Arteta has transformed Arsenal from their long-held status as also-rans into contenders again.
Before finishing runners-up for the first time during his reign in the 2022-23 season, they had failed to make the top four for six seasons in a row, with Arteta overseeing back-to-back eighth-place finishes in his first two campaigns at the helm.
Yet as substantial as their improvement has been, there has been a frustrating sense of deja vu about the last handful of campaigns.
The North Londoners were somewhat unlucky to come up against outstanding Man City and Liverpool sides, and their tallies of 84 and 89 points in 2023 and 2024 would have been enough to earn them a league title in many Premier League seasons.
But there is a conservatism about Arsenal under Arteta, reminiscent of Southgate’s England, a team that also failed to capitalise fully on a rich array of talent.
The style has got them to a certain impressive level and helped them routinely look like the best defensive team in the Premier League — they have conceded the fewest in the last two consecutive seasons and are on course to make it three in a row, with only 14 goals against from 21 games.
But Thursday’s game against Liverpool felt symptomatic of their woes in recent years.
Despite a promising opening 20 minutes that Arteta’s men dominated, Arsenal looked flat for most of the contest.
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In the second half, the hosts didn’t register a shot on target until the 91st minute.
Despite Liverpool having looked out of sorts for long parts of this season, they could easily have emerged with all three points if Conor Bradley’s delicate first-half chip had been a few inches lower rather than hitting the crossbar.
In the past, it has been these types of games against the big sides where the Gunners have fallen short, primarily owing to a lack of killer instinct.
Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus reacts after a missed chance late in the game. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
In March 2024, amid a closely fought title, they famously celebrated a 0-0 draw at the Etihad, only for Pep Guardiola’s side to still pip them to the title by two points.
The season before, when they finished five points behind City, it was essentially the games between the two that decided the outcome of the title race, with the Etihad outfit convincingly winning both fixtures.
This year again, Arsenal have been efficient at dispatching the smaller sides while often lacking the killer instinct in the big games.
Liverpool (away) and Aston Villa are the only teams to defeat them in the 2025-26 Premier League. However, they have had to settle for a point against Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool (home) and Sunderland.
The other title rivals have been so poor that they may finally get away with the flaw this season, regardless. But significant doubts remain, particularly if Guardiola’s City come good in the final stretch as they have done on more than one occasion in the past.
In the last few years, the persistent criticism has focused on Arsenal’s lack of an elite striker.
The reported €67 million signing of Viktor Gyökeres ostensibly solved that problem.
The 27-year-old had a relatively unremarkable start to his career, failing to set the world alight in stints at Brighton and Swansea.
But 38 goals in 91 appearances for Championship side Coventry persuaded Sporting Lisbon to pay a club-record transfer fee of €20 million for his services.
Gyökeres excelled in Portugal, registering a remarkable 97 goals in 102 appearances during his time there.
Some observers felt it would be more of the same after Arsenal won the race for his signature last July.
Nonetheless, like other high-profile, expensive forward purchases in the summer, such as Alexander Isak and Benjamin Šeško, Gyökeres has often struggled, and the jury remains out on whether the money was well spent.
From 18 Premier League appearances, he has managed a modest five goals, two of which came as far back as August in the routine 5-0 win over newly promoted Leeds.
The Swedish international is clearly a talented footballer, as his goals record attests, but something is not quite clicking at Arsenal.
Thursday night was a prime example.
Gyökeres barely threatened and cut a largely anonymous figure.
Liverpool’s central defensive pairing of Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk have looked vulnerable and been badly exposed at times this season. But the visit to the Emirates was one of their easier outings.
Gyökeres touched the ball only once in the second half, and it was no surprise to see him replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the 64th minute after an ineffectual evening.
So far, he has simply not provided the killer instinct that the Gunners have so often been accused of lacking.
On Thursday, they were held by a Liverpool side that have been inconsistent all season and reduced to playing Florian Wirtz as the main striker and with so few viable options in reserve that Arne Slot decided to rely on only one injury-enforced substitution in the 95th minute.
Arteta might privately consider it a good point, given Liverpool’s status as reigning champions.
However, victory would have given them a sizeable eight-point lead at the top and potentially caused their rivals to lose faith.
Instead, Man City and even Aston Villa will be galvanised by the Gunners’ mediocre performance and encouraged by their recurring issues up top.
It, therefore, still feels like an open Premier League title race, notwithstanding the six-point lead Arteta’s men have established with 17 fixtures remaining.
And if Arsenal do not triumph, Thursday evening will be remembered as an all-too-familiar moment where they showed overt weakness from a position of strength.
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Arsenal and their €67 million man flatter to deceive again
HAS ANYONE ever seen Arsenal and Gareth Southgate’s England in the same room?
During Southgate’s tenure, the Three Lions reached the finals of the Euros twice and got to the semis of the World Cup.
He took over an England team fresh from the humiliation of getting dumped out of Euro 2016 at the round of 16 stage by Iceland, coupled with Sam Allardyce’s brief, ill-fated reign.
Yet despite being their most successful manager since Alf Ramsey won the World Cup with the country in 1966, Southgate and England during that period will be remembered as nearly men, having failed to win a major trophy.
The Gunners under Arteta are in danger of suffering a similar fate.
After three successive second-place finishes, many pundits have predicted this will be the year when they finally secure a first Premier League title since they claimed the trophy under Arsene Wenger in 2004.
Like Southgate with England, Arteta has transformed Arsenal from their long-held status as also-rans into contenders again.
Before finishing runners-up for the first time during his reign in the 2022-23 season, they had failed to make the top four for six seasons in a row, with Arteta overseeing back-to-back eighth-place finishes in his first two campaigns at the helm.
Yet as substantial as their improvement has been, there has been a frustrating sense of deja vu about the last handful of campaigns.
The North Londoners were somewhat unlucky to come up against outstanding Man City and Liverpool sides, and their tallies of 84 and 89 points in 2023 and 2024 would have been enough to earn them a league title in many Premier League seasons.
But there is a conservatism about Arsenal under Arteta, reminiscent of Southgate’s England, a team that also failed to capitalise fully on a rich array of talent.
The style has got them to a certain impressive level and helped them routinely look like the best defensive team in the Premier League — they have conceded the fewest in the last two consecutive seasons and are on course to make it three in a row, with only 14 goals against from 21 games.
But Thursday’s game against Liverpool felt symptomatic of their woes in recent years.
Despite a promising opening 20 minutes that Arteta’s men dominated, Arsenal looked flat for most of the contest.
In the second half, the hosts didn’t register a shot on target until the 91st minute.
Despite Liverpool having looked out of sorts for long parts of this season, they could easily have emerged with all three points if Conor Bradley’s delicate first-half chip had been a few inches lower rather than hitting the crossbar.
In the past, it has been these types of games against the big sides where the Gunners have fallen short, primarily owing to a lack of killer instinct.
In March 2024, amid a closely fought title, they famously celebrated a 0-0 draw at the Etihad, only for Pep Guardiola’s side to still pip them to the title by two points.
The season before, when they finished five points behind City, it was essentially the games between the two that decided the outcome of the title race, with the Etihad outfit convincingly winning both fixtures.
This year again, Arsenal have been efficient at dispatching the smaller sides while often lacking the killer instinct in the big games.
Liverpool (away) and Aston Villa are the only teams to defeat them in the 2025-26 Premier League. However, they have had to settle for a point against Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool (home) and Sunderland.
The other title rivals have been so poor that they may finally get away with the flaw this season, regardless. But significant doubts remain, particularly if Guardiola’s City come good in the final stretch as they have done on more than one occasion in the past.
In the last few years, the persistent criticism has focused on Arsenal’s lack of an elite striker.
The reported €67 million signing of Viktor Gyökeres ostensibly solved that problem.
The 27-year-old had a relatively unremarkable start to his career, failing to set the world alight in stints at Brighton and Swansea.
But 38 goals in 91 appearances for Championship side Coventry persuaded Sporting Lisbon to pay a club-record transfer fee of €20 million for his services.
Gyökeres excelled in Portugal, registering a remarkable 97 goals in 102 appearances during his time there.
Some observers felt it would be more of the same after Arsenal won the race for his signature last July.
Nonetheless, like other high-profile, expensive forward purchases in the summer, such as Alexander Isak and Benjamin Šeško, Gyökeres has often struggled, and the jury remains out on whether the money was well spent.
From 18 Premier League appearances, he has managed a modest five goals, two of which came as far back as August in the routine 5-0 win over newly promoted Leeds.
The Swedish international is clearly a talented footballer, as his goals record attests, but something is not quite clicking at Arsenal.
Thursday night was a prime example.
Gyökeres barely threatened and cut a largely anonymous figure.
Liverpool’s central defensive pairing of Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk have looked vulnerable and been badly exposed at times this season. But the visit to the Emirates was one of their easier outings.
Gyökeres touched the ball only once in the second half, and it was no surprise to see him replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the 64th minute after an ineffectual evening.
So far, he has simply not provided the killer instinct that the Gunners have so often been accused of lacking.
On Thursday, they were held by a Liverpool side that have been inconsistent all season and reduced to playing Florian Wirtz as the main striker and with so few viable options in reserve that Arne Slot decided to rely on only one injury-enforced substitution in the 95th minute.
Arteta might privately consider it a good point, given Liverpool’s status as reigning champions.
However, victory would have given them a sizeable eight-point lead at the top and potentially caused their rivals to lose faith.
Instead, Man City and even Aston Villa will be galvanised by the Gunners’ mediocre performance and encouraged by their recurring issues up top.
It, therefore, still feels like an open Premier League title race, notwithstanding the six-point lead Arteta’s men have established with 17 fixtures remaining.
And if Arsenal do not triumph, Thursday evening will be remembered as an all-too-familiar moment where they showed overt weakness from a position of strength.
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EPL Premier League Soccer talking point Arsenal Liverpool Underperforming