Arsenal’s title hopes are back in their own hands. A dramatic 3-3 draw for Manchester City at Everton on Monday night has handed Mikel Arteta’s side control of the Premier League race with just three games remaining. The Gunners now lead the table by five points, though City hold a game in hand, meaning the cushion is precarious but tangible. With only West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace standing between them and a first championship in 22 years, the arithmetic is simple: win all remaining fixtures and the trophy returns to north London.
City’s stumble at Goodison Park was the pivotal moment. After a month in which the defending champions had been expected to apply relentless pressure — their April form across the previous six seasons boasted 21 wins, two draws and a solitary defeat — the draw opened a door Arsenal had been waiting for. The result leaves the title race finely poised: should both sides finish level on points, the destination of the title would be decided by goal difference, goals scored or head-to-head records. Bookmakers have installed Arsenal as 2/9 favourites, with City at 3/1, reflecting the psychological shift that Monday night produced.
That shift was completed within a remarkable 24-hour period that also saw Arsenal secure their place in the Champions League final. Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 win over Atlético Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final at the Emirates Stadium, his 44th-minute strike converting a rebound after Leandro Trossard’s shot was saved by Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak. The 2-1 aggregate victory sent Arsenal to a second Champions League final in their history, the first since a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2006. The final will be played in Budapest on May 30, where they will face either Bayern Munich or holders Paris Saint-Germain — PSG currently lead their semi-final 5-4 ahead of the second leg.
Saka’s goal extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run in this season’s Champions League to 14 matches, comprising 11 wins and three draws. They also became the first team in the competition’s history to win all eight of their league-phase games. The club’s European pedigree includes the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but their most recent continental final ended in a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League.
The prospect of a Premier League and Champions League double has raised talk of the greatest season in Arsenal’s 140-year history. Founded in 1886, the club has won a record 14 FA Cups and 13 league titles, though their last top-flight crown came in the unbeaten “Invincibles” campaign of 2003-04. Mikel Arteta, who took over in 2019 and won the FA Cup in his debut season, is now on the verge of a transformative achievement. At 44 years and 65 days old, he will become the second-youngest manager to lead Arsenal into a major European final, behind Terry Neill in 1980. This is particularly notable given that Arsenal were absent from European competition when Arteta arrived; last season they finished second in the league for the third consecutive year and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
Key players such as Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyökeres have been central to the campaign, alongside Saka, whose winner against Atlético capped a week that has redefined what is possible for this Arsenal side. Now the focus returns to domestic duty. Arsenal’s remaining fixtures are West Ham United on May 10, Burnley on May 18, and Crystal Palace on May 24. Every match carries the weight of history — a 100th consecutive season in the top flight, a 34th season in the Premier League, and a shot at becoming only the second club in English football to achieve a league and European Cup double.
