One alternative 25/26 table shows Arsenal are on track to win the Premier League
Several tables show that Arsenal really mean business this season and are on course to end their two-decade wait for a Premier League title.
One in particular — the table against teams in the bottom half — looks especially favourable to the Gunners’ title credentials.
Arsenal in 2025/26 Premier League: Key statistics
- 0 points dropped or goals conceded when scoring first
- Best disciplinary record (10 yellow, 0 reds)
- Most through balls (38)
- Fewest dead-ball passes (422)
- 0 penalties and own goals conceded
Beating bottom-half teams is what champions do; dropping points against them is what makes contenders fall short almost every year.
Arsenal have finished second for three consecutive seasons, leading for most of 2022/23 before being overhauled by Treble winners Manchester City, improving again in 2023/24 but missing out after dropping points in just one match during the run-in, and never really laying a glove on Liverpool last term.
Mikel Arteta’s side have already shown tangible improvement against teams they stumbled against in 2024/25.
They won at Fulham for the first time since 2022/23, beat Crystal Palace at home after drawing 2-2 in April, and turned defeats to Newcastle United (away) and West Ham (home) into victories this season. Of those four, only Palace were in the top half at the time of facing Arsenal.
Last season’s table against bottom-half sides was actually tight: Liverpool finished top, with just seven points separating first and sixth. Arsenal were second, losing only once and conceding 15 goals in 20 matches. The problem was higher up the table, drawing nine and winning just six of 18 against top-half opponents.
Significantly, though, topping the table against bottom-half teams usually means you also win the title. But maybe not as often as you’d think…
Table v bottom half isn’t historically significant
Liverpool were actually seven points better off than champions Manchester City in 2021/22 and won 20 out of 20 in 2018/19, finishing second with 97 points. Those freakish numbers weren’t enough to dethrone an even more freakish City side, and almost feel irrelevant now given how untouchable Pep Guardiola’s team were.
Chelsea trailed Tottenham on goal difference in 2016/17 and Arsenal by two points in 2014/15, while City were bizarrely fourth in the bottom-half table the year they won the league in 2013/14. In 2010/11 and 2011/12, the eventual champions didn’t top that mini-league either.
So yes, Arsenal’s seven wins from seven and one goal conceded against the Premier League’s fodder is significant — but is it as decisive as it seems?
Probably, when the record is that good. But perhaps even more important is whether they keep picking up points in the games they couldn’t win last term.
There’s a clearer link between topping the actual table and topping the top-half table: since 2009/10, only 2015/16, 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2023/24 (on goal difference) have bucked the trend. That is four anomalies versus seven.
Arsenal have found the recipe to win the Premier League
Beating the better sides hasn’t been Arsenal’s problem in recent title races. They topped the top-half mini-league in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, but not the bottom-half one in either season, or 2024/25.
Simply put, if Arsenal maintain their level against the top half and continue their new ruthlessness against the bottom half, they’ll finally be Premier League champions again.
Arsenal’s set-piece nous is their get-out-of-jail-free card
Arteta’s focus on making his side strong from set-pieces has somehow become a stick to beat him and his players with.
You can choose to be critical and say there is an over-reliance and that their vast number of set-piece goals underline a lack of cutting edge from open play, or you can actually acknowledge that it’s tactically savvy to have that in your locker when most teams set up with 10 players behind the ball against you.
Arsenal sit fifth in the big chances created table and 15th for open play goals, but average over 58% possession (third most), which proves the opposition know they must sit deep against them.
And naturally, the further down the table you go, the deeper the low block against a team like Arsenal.
This season, a set-piece goal has won them Premier League games against Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Newcastle, and also helped them overcome Burnley.
It’s not their only weapon, but it’s certainly their get-out-of-jail-free card, particularly against weaker opposition. You’d be naive not to make attacking set-pieces a core strength when faced with packed defences every week.
And in case you weren’t aware, we love tables, and we’ve got tonnes of them. Whether it’s nostalgia or deep cuts you crave, we’ve got you covered.
JOHNNY NIC: Arsenal set-piece horror is confected nonsense of the terminally online