Should Arsenal start looking over their shoulder in Premier League table?

Take me back to the days of vehemently cheering Everton and Aston Villa goals. Our hope was always optimistic, and Arsenal's Premier League title race has died a rather turgid death over the past month.

The Gunners pretty much confirmed Liverpool as champions by opting against making a single move in the January transfer window. Mikel Arteta, who shouldn't be absolved from criticism in the club's winter inactivity despite his posturing in the media, has been left hamstrung in attack.

The defensive foundations remain stern, but solutions in the final third have often passed Arsenal by against stringent units intent on defending their box. Arteta has exhausted his available options, although some will question whether the Spaniard could've ignited his innovative juices further to spark a final third upsurge. We saw Liverpool rock up at the Etihad in the absence of a recognised centre-forward and claim an impressive 2-0 victory.

The Gunners were stuck in the mud again on Sunday as they extended their domestic winless run to three games. The record-breaking beatdown of PSV in Eindhoven was nothing short of a false dawn. Their 1-1 draw at Old Trafford arrived after the league leaders beat Southampton 3-1, and Arsenal's title chances are as low as 0.54%, per Opta. Is it time to consider the teams below us in the table?

Are Arsenal trending towards thrilling race for Champions League places?

With ten games of the 2024/25 Premier League season remaining, Arsenal are now closer to Fulham in the table than Liverpool. The Cottagers, by the way, are tenth with 42 points. The race for the European spots is fierce, and the Gunners are currently trending towards being a part of it.

While the Gunners have played one fewer than the runaway leaders, they've played the same as the six teams directly below them in the table. As it stands, Arsenal shouldn't be overly concerned over their status as a Champions League outfit for 2025/26 - hey, we might even with the darn thing this year! - especially with the Premier League poised to receive an extra spot as a result of their improved coefficient.

Thus, the top five should qualify for Europe's premier club competition this season. Arsenal are currently eight points better off than Man City and Newcastle, who occupy fifth and sixth respectively with 47 points. It'd take a seismic collapse for the Gunners to fall out of the top five, with Opta currently rating their chances of securing Champions League football at 99.51%. Liverpool's title likelihood is merely 99.46% in comparison.

While Arteta's side are winless in three, their competitors below them are struggling to rattle off successive wins. Nottingham Forest hit a bump in the road before they beat City at home, Chelsea are a turgid watch and have found wins hard to come by in 2025, while City almost always suffer against sides boasting an ounce of competence. Seventh-place Brighton are the form team, racking up four straight wins, but their deficit to the Gunners is nine points. That's a huge margin to make up in ten games.

Arsenal, too, will benefit from Bukayo Saka's return in April. While we can't expect the English superstar to hit the ground running right away off the back of hamstring surgery, his mere presence will come as a huge boost to a squad bereft of a game-breaker.

The Gunners have a relatively difficult run before travelling to Southampton on the final day, with five of their next nine games arriving against teams in the competitive top-half. However, this is an Arsenal team built to avoid collapse. The race for the European spots is set to be thrilling, but the Gunners, given their current advantage in second, are set for a stress-free domestic finale.

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