Can Arsenal end Manchester City's Premier League Dominance?

Karan Ahgun

— 5 min read
Can Arsenal end Manchester City's Premier League Dominance?
Photo by Nelson Ndongala / Unsplash

For the past 2 seasons, Arsenal have fallen at the final hurdle in the Premier League title race with Manchester City beating them to the Premier League trophy. With the 2024/25 season possibly being Pep Guardiola's final season in charge at City, there could be a possible situation where Arsenal could take advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the Cityzens. So will Arsenal finally get over the line or will it be 5 in a row for Manchester City?

Last season, Arsenal were the most exciting team to watch in the Premier League and were arguably unlucky not to win the league. They amassed a points total of 89 points, scoring 91 goals along the way and keeping the most clean sheets. But this simply wasn't enough to stop the sky blue juggernaut. Despite a dodgy end to 2023, where they lost consecutive games to West Ham United and Fulham, they were on a near perfect run throughout 2024. The Aston Villa home fixture in April seemed to be the game where Arsenal lost the league to Manchester City and this was such a weird game. By all accounts, Arsenal should've been 2 or 3 nil up by half time but in the end, they maybe became complacent in allowing Villa back into the game. So what lessons can they learn from the 2023/24 season and have they improved this summer?

Firstly, they needed to upgrade on Zinchenko at left back. Despite having a good start to his Arsenal career, Zinchenko has offered little other than inverting into midfield from left back. Furthermore, he has been a defensive liability for Arsenal when he has played and has often relied upon Gabriel to bail them out. They have tried playing Tomiyasu and Kiwior in that position but I don't think they offer that attacking threat that Arteta would be looking for from his left-back. This has also had an impact on the form of Gabriel Martinelli, who relied upon overlapping and underlapping runs from the left-back to open up space which he can attack. As a result, Arsenal have signed Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna who can play left-back and left centre-back. Apart from having "aura" and long, flowing hair, Calafiori impressed for Italy at the EUROs and had a successful 23/24 season with Bologna. The Italian was tasked with playing centre back mostly last season but within this, he was progressing the ball through midfield a lot both with passes and dribbling. This is advantageous for Arsenal as they will be able to deploy him in that inverted full-back position that they love so much.

The other position they need to improve upon is the striker position. With Gabriel Jesus's injury problems and Kai Havertz's unconvincing form in front of goal, Arsenal could do with an out and out striker who is capable of scoring 20+ goals. However, it doesn't seem that the Gunners are looking to recruit in that area and will therefore be looking at Jesus and Havertz to score more in the central attacking position. If I was to choose a striker for them, I would go for Alexander Isak at Newcastle United. He would probably cost £100million or more but that's the going rate for guaranteed goals in the Premier League. It remains to be seen whether the goal output of Arsenal will be the same or better than last season.

From Manchester City's perspective, there has been little change to their squad this summer. The only notable transfer activity has been bringing in Savinho from Troyes and Julian Alvarez leaving for Atletico Madrid. Some Manchester City fans will tell you that they need cover for Rodri, as Kalvin Phillips has failed to impress but the problem is if there are any players who would come in to play second fiddle to Rodri. They were linked with a move for Bruno Guimarães at the start of this summer but those links were never really explored and so far it seems that they won't be recruiting in that area unless an unmissable opportunity comes around. Pep Guardiola's future has also come into question this summer. Guardiola only has a year left on his current contract and there were reports earlier this year that the upcoming season could be his last. This news years would have definitely excited rival clubs but in recent weeks, Guardiola has suggested that his time in the Premier League may not be coming to an end yet. With his future still up in the air, could the uncertainty affect the performances of his team this season?

There are also some Manchester City players who would be looking to raise their performances compared to last season. Matheus Nunes was signed for £53million but didn't really make an impact at City last season. He will definitely be one who's looking for an improvement in performance and more minutes alongside Rodri in midfield. Jack Grealish will also be looking to have a more sustained run in the team, like he did in the treble-winning season. Although he was hit with injuries last season, when he did play he wasn't at his best. He ended last season with 3 goals and 1 assist, which is something that must improve this upcoming season. But Manchester City still have a wealth of options in their squad. Erling Haaland will probably still be the Premier League top-scorer and Kevin de Bruyne will still wow us with his vision and technique. And of course, they still have Pep Guardiola. So their title chances are still the same and in my opinion, I still think they'll win the league but I am hoping for Arsenal to cause an upset.

Neutral fans will be hoping for a great title race and we always seem to hype it up at the start of the season. Then by the end of the season, Manchester City start that ominous run of form and eventually win the league. I hope this changes this upcoming season with Arsenal causing an upset!

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