The 2026/27 season looked to be completely there for the taking as Arsenal stormed into a commanding lead on multiple fronts.
Mikel Arteta had led the Gunners to the top of the table in both the Premier League and the Champions League league phase, as well as a spot in the Carabao Cup final. There was talk of an unprecedented quadruple on the table.
Just before the March international break began, it all started to fall apart. The Gunners fell decisively at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup title match, missing out on their first chance at a trophy. Shortly after, they crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Southampton, leaving just two trophies on the table by the end of the campaign.
Sure, those two trophies — the Premier League and Champions League — were by far the two most important, but the feeling had shifted around Arsenal. Once considered the most in-form and dominant side in Europe, they were now suddenly beginning to fall apart. A 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth last weekend only deepened those fears.
As the significant Premier League lead began to slip away, with Man City pulling within six points and still holding a game in hand, the feeling has slowly grown palpable that Arsenal could be left with nothing to show for a promising campaign yet again.
Now, the question becomes: how much blame would Arteta deserve for failing to achieve any tangible gains should it come to that once the season concludes?
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Will Arsenal end the season without a trophy?
Arsenal seemingly had talk of a famous quadruple on the lips of supporters at one point this season, something never before done in English football.
Suddenly, it's all fallen apart.
The Gunners are out of contention for both domestic trophies, having fallen in the final of the Carabao Cup shortly before they were bounced from the FA Cup quarterfinals by Championship side Southampton.
That leaves the Premier League and Champions League titles left on the table, unquestionably the two most coveted of the four. Arsenal have never won a European crown, and they have gone over 20 years without a top-flight league championship, having failed to win since the 2003/04 "Invincibles" led by Arsene Wenger went unbeaten across the entire league season.
Yet those feel as if they are slipping away, too. Arsenal toiled in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal against Sporting CP, barely leaving Portugal with a 1-0 aggregate lead. Even more foreboding, they have seen their once-great Premier League lead slowly fade, with the familiar feeling of a collapse leaving a pit in the stomach as Man City slowly creep closer. Those two will meet at the Etihad Stadium next Sunday.
A failure to finish the task this season would come with significantly more pain and heartache than previous years, as talk of "bottlers," which Arsenal fans have successfully deflected to this point, would be impossible to defend further.
Should Arsenal sack Mikel Arteta if they don't win a trophy?
Arsenal have felt as though this season was the culmination of a decade of rebuilding. Coming into the 2025/26 campaign, they had finished second in the Premier League on three straight occasions, while improving in European play each year.
The Gunners spent money last summer with the clear idea that this was a "go for it" season. They shelled out cash not for young 21-23-year-old players who could develop into superstars with the right oversight, but instead on established performers like Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, and Eberechi Eze, who are all in the primes of their careers. This was not a summer of spending for the future, but instead a transfer approach with this season at the forefront.
With that in mind, Arteta's approach has drawn criticism all season long, first from outside the club's fanbase, and lately from within. His pragmatic, sometimes painful tactical setup has attempted to lean heaviest on his superstar defenders Gabriel and William Saliba, often at the expense of his attacking stars like Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Having been handed the keys to Arsenal's future, it has felt as though he has chosen stagnation. As the season begins to come apart at the seams, that approach has drawn more and more criticism from fans who want to see their team grab games by the scruff of the neck, as they believe the talent on this team is capable of. Instead, there seems to be a fear of failure permeating from within, a trepidation that has started to seep through every crevice within the club's foundation.
Fortune favours the bold, as they say, but at the Emirates this season, Arteta has lacked that venom to take what fans believe should finally be theirs.
So, given the fact Arsenal came into this season gunning for trophies, and given the past shortcomings with Arteta in charge, there would be no conceivable argument to make that the Spaniard can get them over the hump if they fail to secure silverware this season. Sure, injuries played a part through the second half, but they were far from debilitating, and a manager at this level with this unparalleled depth at their disposal should be capable of working through such obstacles.
If not now, when? Arsenal fans would be resoundingly thankful for Arteta's contributions in rebuilding the club back into a title contender, but they should look elsewhere for the man to finally lift the trophies they so covet.
If Arsenal finish 2025/26 without a title in hand, Arteta's time at the Emirates should come to an unfortunate but necessary end.