Have Gunners the guts for title fight?

Arsenal fans may not want to hear this, especially after the weekend just gone but, as the weeks go on, the obvious will become even more obvious: it’s either now or never for this current team, and their manager, when it comes to winning the Premier League title.

Sunday's fare will have sent shudders down the spine of those with a soft spot for the Gunners, with their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United ensuring that any doubt that may have lingered in the background about this team's ability to get the job done will now be at the forefront of everyone's mind.

The Gunners – chasing a first league crown since 2004 – sit top of the table as things stand with a four point lead. Would they have taken it off you at the start of the season? Absolutely. There's also the added bonus of being the only club with a 100-percent record in the Champions League, as well as a continued interest in both the FA Cup and the League Cup.

All things considered, the season could not have gone much better for Mikel Arteta’s side to this point. Now, though, they need to capitalise.

Let's first get to the positives. Arsenal deserve credit for getting to this point, as both a team and a football club. When you consider the instability at other big clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham over the course of the last few years, the steadying hand of Arteta at Arsenal has been a key part of their run to this current position.

He could easily have been dispensed with on several occasions as Arsenal’s attempts to annex the league title failed, but winning the FA Cup in 2020 provided just enough breathing room to justify his continued presence in the job.

They have been embroiled in some tasty title situations in recent seasons, most memorably in 2022-23 when they went toe to toe with Manchester City before being undone late in the season. Now, though, looks like their time.

Arsenal are a well-oiled machine and have a squad depth that has few, if any, equals in world football. Eberechi Eze is one such example – he arrived to much fanfare earlier in the season from Crystal Palace and burst onto the scene with a hat-trick in the North London derby against Spurs. Yet, he has only had a bit part role in the months since, despite his obvious quality and price tag of over £60-million.

Style matters, and things have actually swung back around towards Arsenal’s way of playing. Over recent years, with Liverpool and Manchester City’s rivalry producing some epic matches with a ferocious intensity and a really high standard of attacking football, Arsenal were often derided for being dour and too reliant on goals from set-pieces.

They have expanded from that slightly, but the game in its entirety has gone in that direction now with teams adopting tactics of long balls, long throws and a real emphasis on defensive solidity from set-pieces, while also exploiting those situations at the other end.

An example of Arsenal’s solid defensive traits was in full view in their draw with Liverpool at the Emirates earlier this month. Granted, they could be criticised for not coming to play a little more against a struggling opponent, but for all the possession they had, Liverpool never really looked capable of breaking down Arsenal’s rearguard unit. However, there’s a subtle difference. That result on its own – a goalless draw with the reigning league champions – is fine. But put together with the two league results that have followed, it’s symptomatic of a wider problem.

Following that nil-all draw, there was another away at Nottingham Forest. Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester United, though, turns their three-game streak into something that will concern even the most optimistic sections of Arsenal's fanbase.

In many ways, Sunday's meeting in North London was the perfect storm for a United side that had been doing okay under Ruben Amorim but one that has taken flight over the past week under Michael Carrick. Entering the home of the league leaders off the back of a win over Manchester City meant this was a free-hit for United's latest interim manager – and he certainly connected to bloody the nose of one of his club's great rivals.

When these two were going toe-to-toe and sharing league titles 20-odd years ago, both had resilience and fighting qualities in spades. Arsenal need to draw on some of those reserves in the present squad right now.

Arteta often strikes a frustrated figure on the touchline, but the greatest sign that he was left disappointed with his team's display last Sunday was a quadruple substation shortly before the hour mark. Even after that, though, things didn't improve and, for large sections of the game, United looked the better team.

Having drawn level at 2-all through a goalmouth scramble from, predictably, an Arsenal corner, the hosts would have been happy enough to settle for a point. Perhaps they thought that United would be happy enough with the same.

Matheus Cunha's stunning long-range effort late on said otherwise and now, with fifteen games to play, Arsenal have Manchester City breathing down their necks with Aston Villa also in the mix.

While it may be a tad early to question the strength of the leadership within the Arsenal dressing room, there are certainly going to be more challenges soon that they need to answer. Wednesday's Champions League encounter with Kairat represents a decent opportunity to get Sunday out of the system for some of the players and, don't forget, Arsenal were highly impressive and ruthless in their dismantling of Serie A leaders Inter just seven days ago in the same competition.

This is as talented an Arsenal squad there ever had been, but they have to match that talent now with a mental strength that sees them remain composed under the pressure of the title race.

After such a barren period, this is their best chance to win a league title. Now, though, comes the hard part.