Arsenal's misery compounded as five reasons behind worrying title collapse emerge

Arsenal have rolled out the red carpet for Manchester City in the Premier League title race

Arsenal have been dealt a major blow to their hopes of winning the Premier League and the statistics behind their worrying collapse make for grim reading.

The Gunners squandered the opportunity to extend their lead in the title race on Wednesday night, with Wolves coming from behind to salvage a point in the dying embers of stoppage time.

While the north Londoners still have a five-point advantage over Manchester City, who have a game in hand, they've only chalked up 58 points, which is the fewest a Premier League leader has had after 27 games since Leicester City (56) in 2015/16.

The cracks certainly began to show at Molineux; it was the first time in Premier League history that a side starting the day at the bottom of the table avoided defeat to the side starting the day at the top, despite trailing by at least two goals.

It was also the first time that Arsenal failed to win an English top-flight away game in which they had a two-goal lead since April 2023, when they lost to West Ham at the London Stadium, ending an 18-game winning run on the road when two goals ahead in the league.

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The Gunners haven't suddenly caved in. Mikel Arteta's side have had a terrible start to the year, winning just three of their last eight Premier League games. In fact, only Crystal Palace and West Ham have dropped more points from winning positions in the English top flight in 2026 (both eight) than Arsenal (seven).

Interestingly, the north Londoners have failed to win from a leading position in three of their last five league games. Rob Edwards' side could smell the blood in the water, knowing 'there is a massive pressure' on Arsenal at the moment, and pounced.

"It was a moment after another moment after another moment," said Arteta after the game. "Even though we scored the second goal, we never got the grip and dominance of the game. That's the reality. That's credit, obviously, to Wolves.

"I don't want to underestimate that, but I think we played a big part in that. As I said, it's very basic things, very simple things, that today we did really wrong, and that's why we had the feeling, without really conceding much, but the moment is always the game open to anything that can happen."

On Wolves weaponising pressure against Arsenal, Arteta added: "That's an obvious thing. If you are at the top and you have to win, you have to win and win and win. That's nothing new. Everything will be like this from the first game when they play Arsenal."

Wolves avoided defeat at home in the Premier League after going behind by two or more goals for the first time since December 2019, when they defeated Manchester City 3-2, ending a 31-game streak.

Despite still boasting the strongest defence in the Premier League, Arsenal have been susceptible to conceding goals from new arrivals. This season, four players have scored their first ever English top flight goal against the Gunners.

Three of which have done so for Wolves –Tolu Arokodare in December, and both Hugo Bueno and Tom Edozie on Wednesday night – with the other being Brian Brobbey for Sunderland in November.

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