Liverpool vs Arsenal – The Title Race Analysed
By Joel McCalmont
Liverpool recently went 13 points ahead of Arsenal as they further stake their claim to be crowned Premier League champions at the end of the 24/25 season. Goals from midfielders Dominic Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister solidified a near-perfect team performance in their 2-0 home victory against Newcastle United, whereas Arsenal only managed to gain a point in a massive fixture against third-place Nottingham Forest, further adding to their unexpectedly successful season. While Arsenal has a game in hand over Liverpool, a victory only narrows the gap to 10 between the Gunners and the Reds, so how realistic is Arsenal’s title charge, and can Liverpool still lose this league?
Liverpool had a run-in of Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Newcastle United all in the league, all within a week. A 2-2 draw against Villa on the 19th of February was perceived as lucky for the Reds in a subpar performance, with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold helping spare their team’s bluffs. Many saw this as a wasted opportunity for Liverpool to further progress in the league while awaiting an expected Arsenal win against West Ham United at the Emirates. However, Jarrod Bowen ruined the home fans’ day by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory on the 22nd of February. While Liverpool fans celebrated the Arsenal loss, many rued the chance to gain an extra 2-point lead over Arsenal after the Villa game.
The day after the Arsenal loss was another highly anticipated game for Liverpool, playing Manchester City at the Etihad just 4 days after their disappointing draw. However, what unfolded was arguably Liverpool’s most complete and dominant performance during new manager Arne Slot’s reign. An intricate battle of tactics saw Liverpool comfortably ease past a struggling City, further highlighting the lacklustre season that Pep’s Cityzens are labouring through, thanks to Salah and Szoboszlai’s goals.
Back to the most recent fixtures, as mentioned before Liverpool continued their dominance by defeating Newcastle United 2-0, while Arsenal drew 0-0 to Forest. The gap can be closed to a difference of 10 points if Arsenal wins their next game, which is Manchester United away on the 9th of March. With United in a rough transitional period, it is expected that the Gunners leave with all 3 points. However, Liverpool fans know all too well that even in United’s struggles, they can turn up for big games, shown when they strangled Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at Anfield back in January. Liverpool’s next fixture is a much more favourable game, as they face Southampton at home on the 8th of March. Southampton are having a dismal season, sitting on just 9 points after 27 games and are on track to match, or potentially finish on a lower points total as Derby County in 2007/8 where they finished the season with only 11 points.
Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool captain recently called on the fans to turn up and make Anfield a horrible place for away teams to travel to. So far, the fans have followed through. Recent performances from the aforementioned Szoboszlai and Salah have helped propel Liverpool to the previously discussed wins against City and Newcastle. The Reds face some difficult challenges on different fronts in the upcoming weeks, as they next face Paris Saint-Germain away in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg on the 5th of March, as well as the EFL Cup Final against Newcastle on the 16th of March. Liverpool have made it clear that they want to win everything they can, and Arsenal fans will hope that the Reds stretch themselves too thinly, resulting in dropped points for the Gunners to pounce on and narrow the gap at any given opportunity. Arsenal finds themselves in a similar situation, having to also compete in Europe against PSV Eindhoven in their Champions League Round of 16 fixture.
With many games left to play, Arsenal fans are seething over their current injury list; Gabriel Jesus (Forward, Knee), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Defender, Knee), Kai Havertz (Forward, Hamstring), Gabriel Martinelli (Forward, Thigh), and Bukayo Saka (Forward, Thigh) are currently sat out due to their respective issues, as well as young defender Myles Lewis-Skelly being suspended due to a straight-red against West Ham. Saka and Martinelli are expected to return in the coming weeks, however the other injured players are expected to miss the remainder of the season. Such injuries to crucial players seem to confirm to neutral fans and Gunners/Reds alike that it is indeed Liverpool’s season to lose. Despite these injuries to the Arsenal players, Liverpool underwent spells this season missing crucial players, missing mainstay goalkeeper Alisson Becker for 6 weeks midseason, centre back Ibrahima Konaté also for 6 weeks midseason, and defensive option Joe Gomez out for the rest of the season. Other scattered injuries throughout the season for the likes of Diogo Jota, new signing Federico Chiesa, Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley shows that the Reds have had their fair share of troubles to wade through but thankfully have managed to persevere past thanks to the other options called upon when needed.
With Liverpool and Arsenal only 10 and 11 games remaining in the league respectively, Arsenal fans will slowly be accepting the fact that Liverpool are inching closer and closer to their 20th league title, and all the Gunners fans can do is sit back and wait for the dreaded day in their calendar. However, Liverpool fans are facing this run-in with an opposite mindset, as they are being cautiously optimistic, having experienced bitter disappointments in the past when their closest rivals in previous years, Man City beat them to titles by mere points, including when City’s 98-point total beat Liverpool’s 97 in 2018-19, leaving Reds’ hearts broken by having the highest second-place points total. With City so far off their usual mark this season, Liverpool fans believe their only real contender is nowhere to be seen, and as such are not worried about
what Arsenal may do. In previous years, Arsenal have notoriously slipped away from top positions and lost out on league titles, and therefore many fans believe that the 2024/25 league title already belongs to Liverpool.