The Premier League returns this weekend with Arsenal sitting nine points clear of Manchester City at the top, albeit having played a game more.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s side also face a trip to the Etihad on April 19 in what will be a crucial game in the run-in as Arsenal chase a first title in 22 years.<\/p>\n
Since their previous league game, they have lost the Carabao Cup final to City and been knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton to cause some concern and nervousness among the fanbase. They have since, however, put in a solid performance away at Sporting CP on Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final and will be hopeful of progressing.<\/p>\n
Before that, the league takes centre stage again with the visit of Bournemouth on Saturday. Despite their lead at the top of the table, Arteta has several issues to deal with as the run-in hots up. <\/span><\/p>\n We asked our Arsenal writers, James McNicholas, Amy Lawrence and Art de Roche, to discuss the main topics and how Arteta might approach the final eight games.<\/span><\/p>\n Amy Lawrence:<\/strong> There is no escaping pressure when chasing a prize that has been just out of reach three years in a row. It was easy to build that into a terrifying head of steam after the two domestic cup defeats either side of the international break. But some compartmentalising is important. They were not direct reflections of the league situation. Arsenal had a collective stinker in a one-off final and helped City with mistakes. The XI that faced Southampton was not a first-choice selection Arteta would be picking in the Premier League and came undone against an excellent Championship side on the up. Both horrible, but both things that can happen.<\/p>\n Winning at Sporting was a helpful psychological boost. Arteta tends to describe these moments, when everything is on the line, as beautiful. Within the camp, since the international break, there has been a lot of emphasis on positives, on enjoying and relishing the chance to achieve something momentous.<\/p>\n \n Arteta and Havertz after Germany’s late winner against Sporting (Patricia De Melo Moreira\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n James McNicholas:<\/strong> There was significant pressure on Arsenal going into the Sporting game. Yes, it came in Europe rather than the Premier League, but after two cup defeats, a response was necessary. Arsenal came through with a performance that leaned on some of their core principles: structure, solidity, and physicality.<\/p>\n Throughout this season, when Arsenal have been under the microscope, they have found a way to respond. The cup losses to City and Southampton constitute the only period in 2025-26 in which Arsenal have lost consecutive games, and there was significant mitigation in those matches, as Amy mentions.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no doubt the performance level has dipped recently, but there are also signs that this Arsenal is more resilient than previous iterations.<\/p>\n Rock Art:<\/strong> Rest will be hard to come by for anyone at this stage of the season, but Arteta will need to utilise every possibility of taking the physical strain away from his players. That is much easier said than done, however.<\/p>\n Arsenal\u2019s first two games back from the international break have proven that the number of players who withdrew from their national squads was not a deceptive tactic. Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard returned to training only ahead of Sporting away, while Bukayo Saka missed both away trips in the past week.<\/p>\n It might be tempting, but rushing players back and jeopardising their long-term fitness is not worth it \u2014 even if trophies are on the line. That is where the value of the squad\u2019s depth comes into play, as was seen away in Lisbon.<\/p>\n \n Bukayo Saka has missed the past two away games (Julian Finney\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Martin Odegaard\u2019s return benefits Arsenal not just because of what he offers on the pitch, but because it gives Arteta more ways to change a game if he or others need to be brought on \u2013 in the same way he did with Kai Havertz. That was an option he did not have in the Carabao Cup final, but will hope to have as much as possible in the next couple of months.<\/p>\n McNicholas:<\/strong> The fatigue issues have been compounded by injuries. It seems to me that the absence of Mikel Merino has had a considerable impact on Arsenal\u2019s squad. The players suffering most from fatigue appear to be Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi. Without Merino to deputise, they have played a huge number of minutes. Arteta simply does not have the same degree of faith in Christian Norgaard.<\/p>\n Arsenal have a squad of formidable depth, but there are still areas where the gap in quality between first-choice and replacements is considerable.<\/p>\n From Roche:<\/strong> Kepa received a lot of scrutiny for his mistakes in the Carabao Cup final, but individual errors have been a collective issue for Arsenal throughout 2026 \u2014 even in matches they have won.<\/p>\n Gabriel and Zubimendi played costly blind passes against Bournemouth and Manchester United in January, Rice had his moment of madness away to Spurs in February, and even David Raya had a rare blunder away to Wolves.<\/p>\n \n Raya and Gabriel after conceding a late goal against Wolves (Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n No team has made more errors leading to a shot in the league and both domestic cups than Arsenal\u2019s 31 (eight of which have ended in goals). In some instances, these errors seem to come from lapses in concentration, which could tie into the aforementioned fatigue issue.<\/p>\n Rather than thinking about the bigger picture and what needs to come next, it feels like staying in the moment and playing the situations that are in front of them would help Arsenal most. Clear the minds, be present in the now, and play free.<\/p>\n McNicholas:<\/strong> We talk about fatigue largely from a physical perspective, but the tension of the title race \u2014 loaded with the weight of previous years \u2014 will be psychologically gruelling for these players, too. Mental fatigue is just as much an issue, and I think that goes some way towards explaining the individual errors.<\/p>\n The other area of intrigue surrounds just what sort of role 16-year-old Max Dowman might play in the run-in. Dowman was a substitute against Sporting in midweek, becoming the youngest player to feature in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The indications are that Arteta believes Dowman could be a difference-maker in what remains of the campaign.<\/p>\n Lawrence:<\/strong> It really is one of the mysteries of the season that Arsenal are top of the league and the English team with the best prospects of continuing to the Champions League semi-finals in a season when few of their attackers have been consistently brilliant.<\/p>\n It seems to be lost in the discourse that they are Premier League top scorers and outscored the best in Europe in the league phase of the Champions League (with 23, one more than both Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who share second place in terms of goals scored).<\/p>\n Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli are their only players in double figures so far (17 and 11 goals respectively). Eberechi Eze and Saka should join them (nine each). But the combination of injuries and inconsistent form across the front line has hindered fluency and connections. Going most of the season without a fully fit, much less sharp, Havertz has been a tough one to cover.<\/p>\n \n Gyokeres is Arsenal\u2019s top scorer this season (John Walton\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The best attacking setup? Who knows \u2014 maybe not even Arteta. The \u2018starters and finishers\u2019 concept is something he is keen to lean into and might well be key in the games ahead. If Eze and Saka return and nobody else pulls up, that gives him a strong hand with a lot more variety than he has had at any point this season.<\/p>\n McNicholas:<\/strong> The one Arsenal forward who is undoubtedly in good form is Gyokeres. The 27-year-old Swede has scored six goals in his past seven appearances for club and country. As Arsenal look for someone to provide the firepower to get them over the line, Gyokeres looks the man most likely.<\/p>\n From Roche:<\/strong> When reflecting on Arsenal\u2019s Carabao Cup final defeat to City, Arteta said: \u201cHow the game can shift at that level from the first and second half, that\u2019s something that we need to manage better and again this is going to make us better, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Similar to their individual errors, this point can be taken in wins and draws as well as losses.<\/p>\n While the cup final example was particularly around the first- and second-half performances from both sides, Arsenal have allowed teams to stay in games against them until very late throughout the season.<\/p>\n Momentum is a word that crops up often. That can change in a five-minute spell of a game, let alone with a result. Arsenal at their best under Arteta have been able to slow matches down to take the emotion out of away grounds, and have managed to start games quickly at home to put visitors on the back foot.<\/p>\n Given the physical toll that has been put on the players this season, it is unrealistic to expect them to completely dominate matches from start to finish. But now is the time to recognise the moments in matches that can help swing the balance in their favour \u2014 big and small.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Premier League returns this weekend with Arsenal sitting nine points clear of Manchester City at the top, albeit having played a game more. Mikel Arteta\u2019s side also face a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How much of an issue is the pressure of the title race?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/09093504\/GettyImages-2269704058-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat impact have injury and fatigue had?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/09093727\/GettyImages-2267846052-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhy have individual errors increased?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/08082434\/GettyImages-2262371457-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow concerning is the lack of goals from forwards? And what is their best attacking setup?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/02\/22180106\/GettyImages-2262535270-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIs there an issue with managing games?<\/strong><\/h2>\n