As club action resumes this weekend, **Arsenal**are hopeful of taking more steps towards the end of their six-season hunt for major honours. The side are still in three competitions: nine points clear at the top of the Premier League and quarterfinalists in the **FA Cup**and the Champions League.
But history has not been kind to Mikel Arteta and his men in the final phase of recent seasons.
The 2020/21 campaign was one to forget for the Gunners, who finished a second successive season in 8th place in the Premier League. Home defeats against **Liverpool**and **Everton**bookended the month of domestic football in April while a 2-1 loss to **Villarreal**in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final proved fatal. And with that, a rotten run of results has followed the club in this particular month.
The top four fight unravels
The next year would bring the first distinct drop-off in form during the month of April.
Across February and March 2022, Arsenal profited from the lack of continental competition and growing chemistry in their team. Granit Xhaka started to venture higher in midfield ahead of a fit Thomas Partey, Bukayo Saka started to bond better with Martin Odegaard, trusted to be the number ten from the spring, and Gabriel Martinelli was earning more opportunities as a starter.
The result was a run of six wins in seven **Premier League**fixtures. Arteta was awarded Manager of the Month for the second time in six months, and ambitions of a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2017 were alive. An accursed April brought those dreams crashing to the ground.
Crystal Palace, overseen by **Arsenal**legend Patrick Vieira, produced the first significant stumbling block as they defeated their guests 3-0 at Selhurst Park. To make matters worse, Partey pulled up with a thigh issue that ruled him out until the end of May. Kieran Tierney was also absent due to a knee injury he sustained at the end of March, and Arteta was forced to call on lower-quality deputies.
An infamous midfield experiment followed against **Brighton**in a 2-1 defeat. Albert Sambi Lokonga was left as a lone six behind Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe. The Gunners could not get going in possession, and fans were frustrated at full time. Eddie Nketiah was then handed a starting spot against **Southampton**instead of Alexandre Lacazette, but the outcome was the same: a 1-0 loss.
**Tottenham**took advantage of this faltering form as Antonio Conte carried the **Champions League**charge over the line. They still relied on back-to-back defeats in May for **Arsenal**to achieve fourth position ahead of their fellow **North London**outfit, but April set the tone for the downward spiral.
The title charge collapses
A similar story saw a more painful experience for **Arsenal**in the 2022/23 season. Having shaken off their failings in February, Arteta’s men defeated Everton, Bournemouth, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Leeds United to come to the cusp of their first league title during the Emirates Stadium era.
The Gunners had an eight-point lead on reigning champions Manchester City after the first week of April, and they approached a trip to **Anfield**full of confidence. After the first half hour, Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus had given them a two-goal lead, and **Arsenal**seemed to be marching towards the title.
However, a confrontation between Xhaka and Trent Alexander-Arnold stoked up the supporters in Merseyside, and their belief built at the sight of a Mohamed Salah strike to half the deficit at the end of the first half. Forty-five minutes later, Aaron Ramsdale had repelled a slew of shots, Roberto Firmino had equalised, and the guests were fortunate to walk away from this match with any points.
A less extreme version of this encounter happened at the **London Stadium**a week later. The Gunners grabbed a rapid-fire two-goal advantage through Jesus and Odegaard. But a careless Partey error left Declan Rice to rob the ball before **Gabriel Magalhaes**made a clumsy tackle and Said Benrahma buried a subsequent penalty. Jarrod Bowen levelled the score, and **Arsenal**dropped two more points.
But worse was to come. **Southampton**should have been the perfect opponent to bounce back against. Thirty seconds after kick-off on a fateful Friday night in North London, the hosts were behind. They then went 2-0 and 3-1 down, battling back to pick up only one point against the to-be relegated Saints.
William Saliba was the significant absentee from the side of the spine during this run-in, and the backline was undermanned against the duo of Erling Haaland and **Kevin de Bruyne**in a do-or-die battle at the Etihad Stadium at the end of the month. The Citizens cruised to a 4-1 victory, sitting pretty as table toppers, and the collapse continued irreparably for **Arsenal**into the month of May.
A woeful week leaves Arsenal in agony
April again began in the right fashion in 2024, but it only took one week to undo their ambitions.
The Gunners had kept five successive **Premier League**clean sheets on the road with a 3-0 win over bogey team Brighton, and a 2-2 draw for Liverpool at **Old Trafford**ensured top spot stayed with the **North London**outfit. However, it all started to go wrong when the bright midweek lights turned on.
Bayern Munich were having a miserable season, set to go trophyless for the first time since 2012 and lose their grip on the **Bundesliga**crown to record-breaking Bayer Leverkusen. They then went 1-0 down to a sweet Saka strike in the first leg of their **Champions League**quarterfinal tie, and **Ben White**could have scored a second. What followed from the Gunners was an act of self-implosion.
A mix-up between David Raya and Gabriel Magalhaes left the Bavarians to take the ball, and Serge Gnabry grabbed a leveller against his old club. Minutes later, Leroy Sane spun Jakub Kiwior, and **Arsenal**conceded a penalty to Harry Kane. The former **Tottenham**goal-getter gleefully converted, and Leandro Trossard turned home a late second half strike to produce a disappointing 2-2 scoreline.
The schedule set up the league leaders for a difficult week. While City, who were locked in a battle with Real Madrid, ran riot in a 5-1 victory over Luton Town, **Arsenal**had to host Aston Villa.
The **Champions League**chasing Villans were a wily outfit under former **Arsenal**boss Unai Emery, and after they weathered the first half storm, the momentum moved in their favour. Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins netted deep in the second half, and City climbed two points clear at the top of the table.
To cap things off, the Gunners had little to no firepower in their trip to the Allianz Arena and a meek performance allowed their seasoned European opponents to go to the semifinal with a 1-0 triumph through a Joshua Kimmich header. Now, aspirations for the two big titles had been jeopardized.
Arteta’s men did fight back, winning the remainder of their league fixtures, but the two point buffer for the Citizens remained until the end of the campaign, and another accursed April had hurt Arsenal.
The nail in the coffin
This time last year represented the first run-in since 2021 that **Arsenal**had nothing to fight for on the domestic front, but it did not make the month of April any more comfortable for Arteta’s men.
In a campaign marred by draws, the side suffered three stalemates against Everton, **Brentford**and Crystal Palace that all came from winning positions. League leading **Liverpool**were running away with the title, and the Gunners were limping over the line to wrap up second spot in the standings.
There were certainly some highs. Saka marked his return to **Premier League**action after a Grade 3 hamstring tear with a quickfire goal off the bench in a 2-1 win over Fulham. The Gunners also beat Real Madrid home and away in the last eight of the Champions League, reaching the semifinal of the competition for the first time since 2009. However, April would end with a big blow for the team.
After revelling in the success against the reigning champions of Europe’s premier competition, Arsenal welcomed Paris Saint-Germain to their ground for the first leg of their semifinal tie. It was a test that saw no role for Partey, who picked up a needless suspension at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Since Jesus and **Kai Havertz**were injured, Merino moved back into midfield and Trossard took on the responsibility as the centra forward the Spaniard. On the other hand, the pulsating Parisians were in their groove: chasing a treble, they took the lead inside three minutes through Ousmane Dembele.
The bullish bravery of Myles Lewis-Skelly was a highlight of the night, but PSG were clearly a class above, completing the job the next week at the Parc des Princes. And so, the barren run went on.