As the sun sets on the 2023/2024 Premier League season, it is only fitting that after one of the most exciting competitions in recent memory, the title’s destination has yet to be confirmed. It’s no surprise that Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is once again in the driver’s seat, looking to secure a record fourth successive league title, their sixth in seven years. Yet, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal has managed to cultivate a serious force of pressure, ready to capitalise on any Man City slip-up.
How did Arsenal get here?
It is rather ironic that it was Pep Guardiola and Man City who birthed their only obstacle to another Premier League title. When Arsenal hired Mikel Arteta as their replacement for Unai Emery, Arteta’s lack of experience was seen as a potential barrier to a successful regime, let alone a title fight. However, Arteta’s time at Man City, working as an assistant coach under Guardiola, gave him more experience than most. Often tasked with running training and even taking up the mantle as manager in the event that Guardiola was unavailable, Arteta’s experience under football’s arguably most successful manager gave him the invaluable experience needed to turn Arsenal into one of England’s top teams.
So, when his return to Arsenal was announced, many expected the main takeaway from Arteta’s time in the north to be Guardiola’s rather distinct style of play: a fast-moving, passing-heavy style known as ‘tiki-taka’. While similarities exist, anyone who watched Arsenal’s game against Manchester United last weekend will know they have merged into a more defensive team with a reliance on unsexy goal-scoring methods such as set pieces. Yet, Arteta’s willingness to adopt this style of play at times speaks to a more critical trait that he imported from Manchester: an ability to get the job done.
As a keen Chelsea supporter (one of Arsenal’s main rivals), I, alongside the vast majority of football supporters, often tune into Arsenal with the sole purpose of supporting whoever Arsenal is playing against, particularly within a title race. This is so much so that an overwhelming group of Tottenham Hotspur fans (Arsenal’s biggest rivals) actively celebrated Tottenham’s defeat against Man City on Tuesday, as a win would have placed Arsenal in prime position to bring the title home this Sunday.
In recent years, rival fans’ hobby of tuning into Arsenal during title races has been quite successful. The large majority of Arsenal title challenges are characterised by a late-season dip in form that ultimately takes them out of contention. It was a run of four games without a win during April and two defeats in their final three games that saw last year’s title challenge grind to a halt, suggesting that even Mikel Arteta was not immune to Arsenal’s habit of implosion.
Yet, during this year’s title run-in, I have been met with an uncomfortable premise: Arsenal’s ability to win. When reflecting on this year’s title charge, many might focus on their impressive dismantling of Chelsea, their 3-2 victory over Spurs, or their 3-0 win against Bournemouth.
While these victories have certainly been impressive, if the title does end up in North London this Sunday, it will also be due to their ability to still pick up the win against Manchester United, in light of a subpar performance; their ability to bounce back after successive defeats against Aston Villa and Bayern Munich; their ability to see off one of the best teams of all time, Man City, to hold them to a 0-0 in their own backyard. Their ability to get the job done during times where they would have previously imploded.
This is a credit to the impressive squad-building Arsenal has done. Dynamic youngsters such as Saka and Martinelli have transformed into more mature and experienced attackers with killer instincts capable of turning games. The partnership of Gabriel and Saliba has looked practically impenetrable (it was no shock that last season’s collapse coincided with an injury to Saliba), and recent reinforcements such as Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz have often come up with crucial goals in dying minutes. It is a squad of sound balance but also greater maturity, having learned from last season, a maturity that has fostered an unlosable quality seen in Arsenal.
Typically, this is enough to win the league title. It is very rare in any sport for a team to capture an ‘unlosable quality’ about them. When they do so, it often results in an unmatched legacy, such as the Bulls during the ’90s, the All Blacks in the 2010s, or the Penrith Panthers in recent years. Unfortunately for Arsenal and Arteta, there is another team whose title charges in recent years can only be described as having some sense of inevitability, an unstoppable force: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
It was a team that didn’t lose once in 12 games between February and May last year, taking advantage of Arsenal’s collapse. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp knows best, guiding his team to points tallies of 97 (4th highest in history) and 94 (8th highest in history), only to be bested by Pep Guardiola’s City by a single point on both occasions. It was a team that, despite being 2-0 down against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2020/2021 season with 14 minutes to go, scored three goals in 5 minutes, clinching the league title from the grasp of Klopp’s Liverpool. Guardiola has fostered a team of mentality monsters, almost incapable of losing.
This is, of course, backed by one of the most impressive rosters in sports history. Featuring the firepower of Erling Haaland, one of the Premier League’s greatest midfielders, Kevin De Bruyne, academy star Phil Foden, and many other top talents, Guardiola has had access to great resources. This is supported by UAE royalty Sheikh Mansour, who has pumped billions into the club. This is also one of the deepest rosters in sports, with many claiming that Man City’s B team can compete at the highest level.
And lastly, the tactical nous of Pep Guardiola, a man whose quick-moving, high-pressing play has revolutionised the Premier League with unmatched attention to detail and an ability to adapt and react to turn around games. Pep Guardiola has managed to implement one of the most impressive tactical systems. Yet, what is more remarkable is that he has adapted and evolved throughout his eight years at the club. Normally, managers get found out, and someone comes up with a way to defeat them in one way or another. Yet, Guardiola is an anomaly. He has also displayed impressive man management. It is not easy to manage a squad as large as City’s. Many players who are some of the best in the world get left out regularly. This usually translates to disasters, a revolt led by unhappy egos forced to sit on the bench. Once again, Guardiola has proven to be an anomaly, creating a culture where players are happy to put the team first even if they believe their lack of minutes is unfair. It is impressive to do this in most cases, but to survive eight years with no significant implosions is staggering, emblematic of a man with the personality to match the genius.
This trinity has allowed them to compete with Arsenal this year, having not lost a game since December 6, 2023 (23 games ago). It is this trinity that has placed them on the verge of winning three successive league titles, a feat not achieved by anyone in English football history, let alone in one of the most strenuous and competitive eras of the Premier League.
It’s a team that wins in the big moments. I think the dying moments of City’s game against Tottenham reflect this best. When Spurs striker Heung-Min Son ran through on goal in the 86th minute, City fans had every reason to be concerned. Not only is Son a Golden Boot winner and recognised as one of the most clinical strikers in Europe, but their number 1 goalkeeper, Ederson, went off injured 20 minutes earlier, leaving Stefan Ortega, a man who has only started seven Premier League games in his two years at Man City. A betting man would have backed Son to equalise and put Arsenal in pole position to win the league this weekend. Nevertheless, Ortega pulled off one of the saves of the season. This is not only a testament to Ortega’s quality as a backup but speaks to the ability of this City side to come through in the big moments, no matter what the odds are.
So, who gets the job done?
With City winning their game in hand, they have a two-point lead over Arsenal. However, Arsenal’s superior goal difference means that if City draw and Arsenal win, Arsenal will win the title. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, if history is anything to go by, the innate ability to get the job done will likely see City over the line. However, any City slip-up, either at Tottenham or against West Ham in the league’s final fixture, and Arsenal’s newly found sense of inevitability means that the title will more than likely return to North London, 20 years after their most recent league win.