By ISAAN KHAN, REPORTER
Published: 10:12 EST, 31 December 2025 | Updated: 10:12 EST, 31 December 2025
So far, so good for Arsenal. Top of the Premier League table by five points at the season’s halfway point, a first title since 2004 is, possibly, on the horizon.
Tuesday night’s pummelling of third-placed Aston Villa makes such a case even more convincing. Though, as Mikel Arteta has experienced in their last three campaigns, it is from New Year’s Day by which the real title race begins.
Nineteen league games have been played, 19 remain. In the past at this stage, the north London club have found themselves either first or among the favourites for the No1 spot.
Expectation of silverware has often been followed by a slow suffocation by Manchester City, who historically up the ante from this point — and have already done so in recent weeks.
Being well-placed at New Year is no longer novel for Arsenal. What matters now is whether this squad has developed the resilience and mental clarity required to turn a familiar position into an unfamiliar ending.
Daily Mail Sport assesses the five areas that will decide whether Arsenal can finally hold off Man City and convert potential into a title.
Arsenal sit top of the Premier League by five points at the turn of the year, Daily Mail Sport assesses the five areas that could be key to them winning the title
Cope with being the team to beat
As seen from previous seasons, the league is not won by being top at Christmas, New Year or April 1.
Though a common assertion made by Arsenal fans is that for many teams, a match against the Gunners is their side’s cup final.
It’s a bold statement to make — but the estimation the north London club is held in by its opponents is already clear.
Wolves went for an attacking ploy against Manchester United, Rob Edwards’ side levelling the score to 1-1 before being pummelled 4-1.
A week later, the Midlands club went for the lowest of low blocks to frustrate Arsenal. They lost 2-1, but on another night would have walked away with the victory, Arteta’s men benefitting from two own goals.
Chelsea held the Gunners to a 1-1 draw in match which they held their own with 10 men for the majority of the game. After that, in the league the Blues lost 3-1 to Leeds and then drew 0-0 with Bournemouth. Sunderland followed up their 2-2 draw to Arsenal with a 1-0 defeat by Fulham.
There is a pattern. Arsenal’s dominance thus far has made them the team to beat. The fear opponents have before a ball has been kicked is both flattering and a nuisance for the Gunners; they enter the pitch knowing that they have to be on their A-game to stand a chance.
How Arteta will keep his team motivated for matches against inferior opposition is key. So are the players accepting that despite their own strengths, they will need to adapt and play in ways not accustomed to themselves to break opposition ploys like low blocks.
Bottom half sides have frustrated Arsenal with the low block, and the Gunners will need to learn to cope with that
Handle the mental pressure of Man City chasing
As expected, Man City have started to turn the screw.
Weeks of patchiness, including losses to Aston Villa and Newcastle, have been followed up by a string of seven victories across all competitions, highlighted by the performances of Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki.
Foden has struck six goals in the previous six league matches, while Cherki has five assists in that period.
This is not a team solely reliant on Erling Haaland, as many observers concluded last month. They are more than this, a team with enough luxury parts which, when on song, piece together to devastating effect.
It makes the Manchester club a real threat all the way from now until May 24. Even a gap of say four points by early April will still feel chaseable because of the mental scars they have inflicted upon Arsenal in the previous three seasons.
Man City’s two league scalps in that period have involved Arsenal capitulating under pressure, none more so than the 2022-23 campaign by which the Gunners had led the way for 248 days before Man City overtook them with six games to go.
In the following season, Pep Guardiola’s team went on a 23-match unbeaten run from December 10, 2023 to pip their rivals by two points at the end.
Such trauma metered out by the same side doesn’t go away easily, especially when the Gunners have that thorn in their side zeroing in on a path they’ve gone down plenty.
Man City have only led from the front in one of their title-winning campaigns under Guardiola, the record-breaking 100-point season of 2017-18. They have overturned a deficit in all of the other five seasons.
It will be the ultimate test of whether Arteta and Arsenal have the resolve to overcome this mental obstacle, one which will undoubtably grow as they get closer and closer to the finishing line.
Internally, the well-worn adage of ‘the most important game is the next’ is heavily promoted instead, a key example used being the week in November where the north London club faced Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea in the space of a week.
If they can withstand the tide, the path could well be unlocked for multiple silverware this season, and in the years to come at Arsenal under Arteta.
If not… well that would be a whole different story in itself.
Be smarter at rotation to limit injuries
Injuries are not a viable justification for Arteta this time around because of his squad depth.
The Gunners’ second XI made up of their back-up players, such as Kepa Arrizabalaga, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Cristhian Mosquera, would arguably push for a top four finish in their own right.
It is the kind of depth that a £250million summer spend creates; no other Premier League team can really rival it. Yet, regardless, mass injuries do obviously make winning a league title harder.
Injuries have been a real problem for Arsenal again this season - Declan Rice (pictured) missed the win over Aston Villa with a knock
Whether Arteta trains his players too much and too hard in training is a contentious point.
Behind the scenes, he is adamant that injuries are a consequence of too much football being played and bad luck, not his training methods or intensity.
Though, how much game time he gives to certain players is within the Spaniard’s hands, and that is a controllable variable Arteta can be more sensible with.
Bukayo Saka has featured in every game this season bar two because of a hamstring injury, and didn’t miss a game last season of the matches he was not injured.
Declan Rice has played in every game this season, apart from this month’s Champions League match against Club Bruges which he missed due to illness.
Playing his stars in the earlier rounds of the cup competitions is an unnecessary risk in a bloated schedule.
They may not get injured in those games but it’s the accumulative load, which Arteta has previously said he is well aware of, that is the danger.
Some injuries such as ones caused by opposition contact are unavoidable. Arteta can help increase the chance of his players being fit, though, by getting better at resting his players.
As seen by Christian Norgaard and Jurrien Timber filling in at centre back in recent weeks, the north London club have been short at the back because of injuries to William Saliba, Mosquera, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel.
With a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final tie and FA Cup third round match to come, Arteta’s selections will give an indication of whether he is willing to adapt more caution — or risk his star players again.
Utilising full battery of strikers
Arsenal have, for the first time since their opening league match against Manchester United on August 17, a full battery of senior forwards available.
It’s a strong batch featuring Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.
Each offers Arteta a distinct profile at centre forward — variety that could yet prove decisive in a title race likely to be shaped by fine margins. How he chooses to deploy this wealth of attacking options will be both fascinating and crucial.
Gyokeres brings a more direct, physical presence, capable of pinning back defenders and attacking space relentlessly. Havertz, by contrast, offers intelligence between the lines, aerial ability and the capacity to knit attacks together.
Jesus remains the most fluid of the three. Comfortable drifting wide or dropping short, his dribbling and ball-carrying can be a struggle for defenders to contain and he can finish well.
While Havertz is likely to emerge as Arteta’s preferred option when fully fit, the choice of No 9 will increasingly be shaped by context rather than status. The opponent and specific demands of each match will all be factors.
Mikel Arteta has full firepower up top with Viktor Gyokeres (left), Kai Havertz (middle) and Gabriel Jesus (right) all currently available
Arteta has already shown a growing willingness this season to rotate his wide attackers within matches rather than between them. Extending that same flexibility to the No9 role is the next step.
Not many other teams in the league possess this kind of depth at centre forward. It’s a selection headache which could become a pivotal advantage in the second half of the season.
Keep the squad happy
A full squad will be needed. Injuries, form and opposition dynamics mean the same starting XI is not guaranteed week to week.
That involves Arteta keeping the fringe players happy. It’ll test his man-management as the season goes on.
He has Lewis-Skelly who is desperate to make the England World Cup squad, Nwaneri who can’t even get a look in for cup matches and White who before his recent hamstring injury had only just started getting league minutes because of Arteta’s limited defensive options.
It’s a fine balance, and one that needs to be accounted for more than ever owing to the size of Arsenal’s squad this season.
There’s different dynamics at play. Keeping a youngster with big ambitions on board is different to the needs of a senior pro who is used to starting each week and now has to contend with being on the bench.
Those outside the starting XI have a part to play, whether as a ‘finisher’ coming off the bench to impact a game, like Gabriel Martinelli did against Man City and Athletic Bilbao, or boosting team morale.
Senior figures such as Norgaard are in the squad for the latter. He adds playing depth whilst also having the experience to keep young players on track and keep players together.
The effectiveness of substitutes has largely been shaped by Arteta’s in-game management. This season, he has shown strong judgment in rotating players to change matches, with Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Leandro Trossard frequently making a decisive impact.
These different roles are all part of keeping a potential title-winning squad on track.
With Arsenal still remaining in all the cup competitions, Arteta also has the luxury of extra games to rotate his players. It’s in the league where it’s a trickier proposition.
Consistently winning matches, though, makes sticking with the same starting XI an easier sell to those on the fringes.