Mikel Arteta comments could haunt Arsenal after embarrassing Liverpool response

Mikel Arteta was mocked for comments he made after Liverpool was crowned champion last season, and he could be about to endure another difficult end to a Premier League campaign

Mikel Arteta's players face a fight to get over the line in the title race(Image: 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Plc)

Toward the end of last season, Mikel Arteta stated that his Arsenal team would have won the Premier League title had it amassed as many points as it did in each of the two previous seasons.

The Gunners racked up 84 and 89 points respectively in the 2022-23 and 2022-24 seasons, but those tallies were only enough to finish second to Manchester City.

Last season, Liverpool won the league with 84 points – 10 points ahead of Arsenal on 74 – although it's fair to say the Reds took their foot off the gas after being confirmed as champions with four games to spare, failing to win any of those final four games.

"Winning trophies is about being in the right moment, in the right place," Arteta said after Liverpool had secured the title.

"Liverpool has won the title with less points than we had in the last two seasons.

"With the points from the last two season, we have two Premier Leagues."

Pep Guardiola is aiming to win a seventh Premier League title in nine years with Manchester City(Image: 2026 James Gill - Danehouse)

Arteta was widely panned for those comments.

His team now finds itself in a tough situation in the title race, whereby another team effectively has the destination of this season's title in its hands.

Arsenal holds a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, but City has a game in hand, and if Pep Guardiola's men win that game, they will be just two points behind Arsenal.

That game in hand is a home game against the free-falling Crystal Palace, which City will be the heavy favorite to win.

A date for that fixture is yet to be confirmed.

City and Arsenal face each other in the Premier League on April 18, which means the title is effectively in both teams' hands: if City wins all of its remaining games, Guardiola's team is guaranteed to win win the title; if Arsenal avoids defeat against City, and wins the all of its other games, Arteta's men will grab the crown.

Arsenal has been accused of bottling the title in recent years, and that is an accusation that will undoubtedly be leveled at the team again if it fails to get over the line on this occasion.

Two wins from its last seven Premier League games suggests the pressure is getting to Arteta's players – with 11 league games left, their title chances are getting slimmer and slimmer.