Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal are ready to banish the unwanted statistic of not winning the Premier League title on the five previous occasions they have begun the new year top of the table.
Manchester City’s draw with Sunderland on Thursday means Arsenal have a four-point lead over their closest chasers with half the season completed. Arteta’s side have an opportunity to build on their lead when they travel to Bournemouth on Saturday evening, with City facing Chelsea 24 hours later, but look likely to be without Declan Rice again owing to a knee injury.
Arsenal were last champions in 2004, when their Invincibles started the year trailing Manchester United. They have since started 2008, 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2023 top without still being there come late May. Arteta was not aware of that but insisted he senses after the stirring win 4-1 over Aston Villa to end 2025 that his players are ready to make history.
“Let’s break it,” he said. “I think that’s what they transmit every single day when they’re with us, [in] training and every match. You can see their desire. You can see the energy that they put in, how much they want it. And that’s what we need. There’s still five months to go. And take it day by day. Enjoy that process of being where we are and go for it.”
Arteta also said Arsenal’s players must embrace the pressure of a title race despite finishing as runners-up for three successive seasons.
Asked whether there was anything they could do differently, he said: “Win more games, that’s it. So I think from January to January, we won more points again in the last three years than any other team in this league. So we need more points, that’s it. We need to win more games and be better. That’s the only way. It’s a privilege to be here and be where we are.”
Arsenal had been hopeful that the swelling in Rice’s injured knee would subside for him to feature against Bournemouth and will assess him further. Arteta rejected a suggestion that the injury could have been avoided if the England midfielder had been substituted when he picked up the injury in the win over Brighton last week.
“No, no, no,” he said. “He managed to do it. That’s normal sometimes. You get a hit, and throughout the game you are able with adrenaline, and because you are warm, you are able to sustain that. And then the body reacts, and it reacted probably more than we expected, unfortunately.”
