Wednesday night\u2019s 2\u20132 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers produced an emphatic reaction on the blue side of Manchester. The result sharpened a narrative that has followed Arsenal for several seasons: when the calendar turns to the final 12 matches, they frequently slip while Manchester City find another gear.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s tenure, which began in 2019, is littered with late-season collapses. A close look at the last four campaigns underlines the pattern. In 2021\u201322 Arsenal collected 18 points from the final 12 games while City took 30. The following year Arsenal managed 21 to City\u2019s 31. In 2023\u201324 Arsenal improved to 31 but still fell behind City, who had 32. Most recently, in 2024\u201325 Arsenal again returned 21 points from the last 12; City posted 27.<\/p>\n
Those numbers tell the story of contrasting responses to pressure. In 2021\u201322 Arsenal won six and lost six of their final 12, missing Champions League qualification by two points after a 3\u20130 defeat by Tottenham with three games remaining. In 2022\u201323 Arsenal held an eight-point lead after 29 games but drew with West Ham and bottom-side Southampton before a 4\u20131 reverse to City; Guardiola\u2019s side gained 10 more points over the closing 12 to claim the title. In 2023\u201324 Arsenal\u2019s 31-point run was strong, yet City bettered it by one point and were champions after a 0\u20130 draw with Arsenal.<\/p>\n
The 2024\u201325 stretch saw City\u2019s own form dip, but their 27-point return still outpaced Arsenal by six. Liverpool managed 23, despite an end-of-season loss of intensity that included not winning any of their final four and a 2\u20132 draw with Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Beyond the numbers, the pressure manifests on the pitch and in the stands. \u201cbottle\u201d is a word often used in connection with Arsenal\u2019s collapse narratives. Despite still being in a position of advantage, Arsenal let their frustrations boil over against Wolves in a post-match scuffle sparked by Gabriel Jesus\u2019s needlessly angry response to Yerson Mosquera\u2019s celebrations.<\/p>\n
Both clubs head into the last 12 games with the same mathematical prospects: 12 wins would guarantee the title. History, though, gives City the clear psychological advantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal\u2019s late-season run of results has repeatedly handed Manchester City the edge in run-ins. again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1056,969],"tags":[1162],"class_list":["post-6958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-man-city","category-premier-league","tag-analytics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}