London – Winning a Premier League title is never going to be a stroll in the park and Arsenal got a painful reminder of that on Sunday, with a 3-2 home defeat by Manchester United increasing the jitters for the north London club.
At times this season, Mikel Arteta’s side have looked like they were disappearing into the distance at the top of the table, with reigning champions Liverpool struggling and Manchester City still not the relentless force they once were.
With City and Aston Villa dropping points in recent weeks, Arsenal could have built a daunting advantage as they seek to win their first title for 22 years after a series of near misses.
Instead, they have picked up only two points from their last three games and have seen their lead cut to four points with 15 games still to play after Sunday’s loss, their first home defeat of the season in all competitions.
It is a position that Arteta would have signed for at the start of the season, but the anxiety levels are rising after stunning second-half goals by Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha sealed United’s first league win at Arsenal since 2017.
“If you want to win \[the title\], you have to go through these moments,” Arteta said.
“It’s totally unrealistic to win every game you play, the margins are very small and today even smaller because of the manner we did certain things.
“Now it’s time to react, to see what we are made of.”
Arsenal will try to bounce back tomorrow as they seek to complete a perfect league phase of the Champions League with an eighth win.
They take on minnows Kairat Almaty before a rather tougher test away at Leeds United in the Premier League.
**– Reuters**