How Arsenal can win the 2024/25 Premier League title

2. Beat Aston Villa (at least once)

This is a little tongue-in-cheek but is still underpinned by a genuine point.

Almost all post-mortems have laid the title blame on our ‘shock results’, with the defeats against Aston Villa just two among several (also Fulham and West Ham) that stand out as key stumbles during the campaign.

In comparison, Man City only lost three games and did not get beaten twice by any side, bouncing back from two of those losses (versus Wolves and Aston Villa) with resounding wins in the reverse fixture.

Their track record and incredible tallies show just how fine the margins are when going for the title, and so to surrender six points to any one opponent like we did (who are, with respect, not a title rival) deals a near-fatal blow to a team’s chances of glory.

Whether in Europe or at a domestic level, Unai Emery has consistently bested Arteta in direct combat, and such double whammies simply cannot happen if we want to go one step further. If we pick up something from every opponent next year, then we will be there.

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