Arsenal can't actually finish second again olé olé, can they? Well, following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Bournemouth and Manchester City, the Sky Blues leapfrogged the Gunners to go top of the Premier League by beating Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor on Wednesday. The top two are thereby now level on points and goal difference with five to play, meaning it is very much a sprint to the finish.
Were Mikel Arteta's team to come up short and finish second again, this would of course be the fourth consecutive campaign in which they have finished as Premier League runners-up. This would be a new, very much unwanted, English top division record.
English clubs who have finished second three years in a row
1891-1893: Preston North End.
1947-1949: Manchester United.
1970-1972: Leeds United.
1999-2001: Arsenal.
2023-2025: Arsenal.
This is obviously a pretty unprecedented and unique achievement, of sorts. But how rare is finishing second four years in a row? Well, let's take a look across all of Europe to find out.
European clubs who've been runners-up in 4+ consecutive seasons
Club League Seasons Years 2nd in a row
Rangers Scottish Premiership 1966-70 5
Tiligul-Tiras Tiraspol Divizia Naţională 1992-95 5
Shakhtar Donetsk Vyshcha Liha 1997-01 5
White Rovers Paris Ligue 1 1894-97 4
MTK Budapest Nemzeti Bajnokság 1910-14 4
Union Saint-Gilloise Belgian Pro League 1914-22 4
Airdrieonians Scottish Premiership 1923-26 4
Benfica Primeira Liga 1946-49 4
LOSC Lille Ligue 1 1948-51 4
Fiorentina Serie A 1957-60 4
FC Porto Primeira Liga 1962-65 4
Anderlecht Belgian Pro League 1976-79 4
APOEL Nicosia Cypriot 1st Divison 1976-79 4
Ajax Eredivisie 1986-89 4
Club Brugge Belgian Pro League 1998-02 4
Sporting CP Primeira Liga 2006-09 4
Hajduk Split 1. HNL 2009-12 4
Crvena zvezda Serbian League 2010-13 4
Ajax Eredivisie 2015-18 4
Aberdeen Scottish Premiership 2015-18 4
Dynamo Kyiv Vyshcha Liha 2017-20 4
CSKA Sofia Parva Liga 2017-20 4
Fenerbahçe Süper Lig 2022-25 4 (active)
Rangers Scottish Premiership 2022-25 4 (active)
Note: UEFA's current top 32 leagues, as well as defunct leagues, were examined.
The data suggests that a team finishing second four times in a row might actually be more common than you might think. Across Europe's top-32 ranked leagues, this has happened on 21 occasions; we wonder if White Rovers Paris back in 1897 were being labelled massive bottlers too!
A lot of the time, as was the case for Sporting CP, Dynamo Kyiv, Crvena zvezda, Hajduk Split and countless others, the league has one dominance force that they were simply unable to dislodge. Most infuriating for Gooners is the fact that last season, as Manchester City endured a poor campaign, it was Liverpool who swooped in and took the title.
There have been just three incidences of a team finishing second five times in a row, something Arsenal fans surely cannot even contemplate. Rangers finished as runners-up behind Jock Stein's Celtic in five successive seasons in the late-60s, while Shakhtar Donetsk were repeatedly second to Valeriy Lobanovskyi's Dynamo Kyiv around the turn of the millennium. Tiligul-Tiras Tiraspol also did so during the first five campaigns of the newly-formed Moldovan Divizia Națională.
Well, two more teams could join them in a matter of weeks. Fenerbahçe are on course for a fifth successive second place finish in the Turkish Süper Lig, four points behind Galatasaray while only two ahead of Trabzonspor. Meantime, Rangers again could endure a fifth consecutive second place in Scotland; having seen fierce rivals Celtic collect four in a row, it is Hearts who narrowly lead the way with five fixtures remaining.
Back in the Premier League, there is still hope as Arsenal seek to avoid joining this list. Arteta's team host Newcastle and then Fulham before Pep Guardiola's team are next in league action, so can pile the pressure back on to the Citizens, albeit every match from here on out is must win.
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