The one major problem Arsenal must overcome to win the title

Gunners risk getting in their own way after title race blow wide open

Word does not seem to have reached Arsenal yet but this is supposed to be fun.

The club’s strongest squad in decades sitting in table-topping positions domestically and in Europe, and with serene progress being made in both domestic cups.

But the Premier League title race is proving to be a torturous experience for fans and players alike, the sense that all associated with the club are wishing the rest of the season away and hoping to wake up only when the open-top bus parade begins.

The scar tissue is evident after three consecutive seasons finishing second. The fear of a fourth campaign falling short is prevalent and the desperation is seemingly more tilted to not losing rather than to winning.

Arsenal have had excuses in previous seasons. The 2022-23 campaign was fun because it was all so new, but ultimately Mikel Arteta's side did not have the experience to last the distance.

Anxiety gripped Emirates Stadium on Sunday

Getty Images

A year later, Arsenal won almost every match in the second half of the season but the Manchester City machine was still unstoppable. Last season, an injury crisis was too much to overcome.

This time, though, the finger cannot be pointed elsewhere. Everything is in place for Arsenal to end a wait of more than two decades for the title. The mood is of a club that knows if that wait goes on, the blame cannot be placed on anyone or anything but themselves.

Arsenal's defeat to Manchester United on Sunday made it three matches without a win and the fifth season in a row they have produced a stumbling run in the winter period.

A week ago, victory over Forest would have extended the advantage over Manchester City and Aston Villa to nine points. Now it is just four.

The Gunners were their own worst enemies here, gifting Bryan Mbeumo an equaliser through a dreadful Martin Zubimendi back pass.

The hosts lost all composure in that period and did not rediscover it. Arteta's decision to make a quadruple substitution before the hour mark also had an emotional, almost desperate feel to it.

For all the personnel changes, there was no significant shift in Arsenal's approach. The shortcomings there in the goalless draws with Liverpool and Forest, and indeed for much of the season, were still obvious.

Mikel Arteta’s side have hit a blip in their title bid

REUTERS

Arsenal struggle to create chances from open play; they do not have a convincing striker option up front; and, as a more recent development, they continue to hand initiative back to the opposition when on top.

Only 22 of Arsenal's 42 league goals this season have come from open play, a percentage that ranks them 17th. No Arsenal player has scored more than five times in the league. So many attacking players struggling on an individual level points to a much wider, systemic issue.

All those factors have often left the Gunners relying on small margins and that has not helped ease the cauldron of nerves that is the Emirates Stadium.

That tension has been bubbling away for much of the season but against United it reached fever pitch. Groans greeted every heavy touch and wayward pass, and there were even smatterings of boos at full-time.

Arsenal have seven league matches at home remaining this season and the pressure is only going to ramp up. Arteta's side do not currently looking like blowing teams away in the league, so playing in front of 60,000 expectant yet terrified fans is another challenge for them to overcome.

They are going to have to contend too with their own fears and self-doubt, the memories of failures in previous seasons starting to seep in.

Patrick Vieira, Arsenal's last title-winning captain, said on Sunday: "They’re still four points clear, but there’s still questions about the mental strength of the team.

"They have to play with more energy and more risks. They have the quality. They didn’t play with the freedom to express themselves."

In some ways Arsenal are perfectly expressing themselves right now.

The cries of despair from the stands are fuelled by 22 years of league pain as much as they are a delayed Ben White throw-in.

Fear from fans and fear on the pitch, players rigidly sticking to an approach that casts aside freedom and innovation and craves control above all else. Fear as that control slipped away against United, fear that it is slipping away in the title race.

If Arsenal are to finally conquer both their fears and their rivals, they must get out of their own way.