Archive December 31, 2025

With a narrow margin victory over Wolves, Everton, and Brighton, they were far from convincing after falling to Aston Villa in December.

However, the Gunners produced important results, and on Tuesday, they clinched a 4-1 victory at home over Villa to clear any doubts about their title hopes.

Third place was a powerful statement for any team hoping to derail their trophy ambitions because it not only kept Unai Emery’s already impressive side at bay.

Arsenal is five points clear of Manchester City in the second half of the league as of 2026, with Villa a further point behind.

Former Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin claimed on BBC Radio 5 Live that “Arsenal doing what they did to Villa tells you where they are.”

“Everyone is contributing: the manager, the players, the staff,” the manager, and the staff, and everything is going well for them.

Former England international Danny Murphy continued, “Arsenal’s performance was a big statement. It was powerful, high-quality, and thoroughly demonstrated their strength.

They finished five points ahead of Manchester City in 2023.

However, as the season came to an end, Pep Guardiola’s side were the ones who won the trophy, five points clear of the Gunners.

Similar to the 2002-2003 season, when they finished five points clear of Manchester United after finishing second at the end of December.

Therefore, there is a reason why their supporters avoid attempting to win over themselves and celebrate too early.

Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher commented on Sky Sports, “They’ve gone almost 22 years without a league title. It’s understandable.”

“April and May are the best months to get really anxious,” he said. There is still a long way to go.

The Gunners last won the title last year during their “invincible” season, but are things finally settling in?

Boss Mikel Arteta stated to BBC Sport, “We are aware of how long this will last. It’s been an incredible 2025.

We have to earn what we want from 2026, and we are still a long way off.

The Villa victory marked Gabriel and William Saliba’s first official center-back partnership since December 8th.

Arsenal had the league’s tightest defense, conceding just 12 goals in 19 games, which is the lowest of any team, despite their star defensive duo being sidelined.

Before Brazilian Gabriel started the goal-fest, the pair put in another strong performance against Villa, scoring a consoling goal three minutes into the first half.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy told BBC Sport, “Arsah don’t panic; they trust their defenders to play one and one and cope.”

If they win at Sunderland on Thursday, Guardiola’s side will regain two points if they defeat the Gunners. The Gunners have won the Premier League twice since Arteta took over.

Before their trip to the Emirates, Villa had an impressive 11-game winning streak, so boss Emery will assume that the defeat was merely a blip.

Carragher praised Arsenal, adding, “It’s a huge result for them in many ways.

Lisandro Martinez, the stand-in for Manchester United, nicely sums up his remarks to the TV audience after the game.

After a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Wolves, he declared, “The guys are very disappointed.” We anticipate better.

The United fans who booed their team off at full-time can’t help themselves.

Despite collecting their first point since October, this Wolves side is still on track to surpass Derby County as the worst Premier League team ever after losing 11 straight games before Tuesday.

The same fans who chanted “attack, attack, attack” in the second half as their nation watched their nation’s defense struggle to create chances before 15 minutes later when head coach Ruben Amorim replaced one central defender with another in Leny Yoro.

Chido Obi and Shea Lacey, who are both untested and admittedly raw, remained on the bench.

After the most recent home game loss to 10-man Everton, failing to beat third-bottom West Ham, and giving up four goals to Bournemouth, expectations are what sums United up. They did defeat Newcastle on Boxing Day, but this is now.

The amazing thing is that United are only on goal difference at the end of 2025, behind Chelsea, who are likely to be in the fifth spot in the Champions League. When the first day of the match round is over in 2026, they will be ranked seventh overall.

When asked how he felt as the new year approached, Amorim responded, “I’m really confident. All we need to do is get rid of everyone.

I’m not sure what will happen until the season’s conclusion. Then comes the season’s resume.

In all fairness to Amorim, he does have a long list of absentees.

When Mason Mount failed to recover from the injury that forced him to miss the half-time performance against Newcastle, he was the eighth player to be sidelined for the game due to either an injury or an international duty.

The lack of creativity is obvious given that Bruno Fernandes’ absence was well known, and Kobbie Mainoo and Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo were both ruled out with a poorly timed issue that erupted on the training ground just before the defeat at Aston Villa on December 21 were both at the forefront.

Joshua Zirkzee was the only one Joshua Zirkzee had to look at when Amorim looked at his other options because Matheus Cunha was below par and Benjamin Sesko was still finding his way as a United player.

This player has been overlooked for almost the entire season and was taken off at half-time on Tuesday despite leading United in the opening period with a deflected shot. He has never been convinced that this level is the right level for the club.

Amorim tried to gloss over the situation, but given the circumstances, how can any other conclusion be drawn in comparison to how important it is for all parties to strike a deal with Serie A side Roma, who want to bring in a player who can improve United?

Amorim remarked, “I just look at what I can do to win the game.” Because we were struggling, we had to do what the game demanded.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a minority owner, has already expressed his concern about how much money United has spent on players who don’t support the cause.

One of the many examples is Zirkzee, a £36.50 signing from Bologna in July 2024.

Rob Edwards, the manager of Wolves, said he had mentioned the negative atmosphere in the stands to his players at half-time.

He is aware of how harmful that can be at Molineux this season because there has been a lot of that.

Everyone arrived anticipating a win, perhaps a comfortable win, and he did not mean that.

Amorim acknowledged that the absence of key players was an excuse, but he did pick some names and said it was very clear.

He said, “We are in a situation where many players are out at once.”

You know that when you have Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount, or Bruno Ferdinand in the middle, which is different from what you do, of course. That is typical.

“So, we just need to recover our players, and for the [other] players to come back from Afcon, the fluidity will be different.

We could win today, but our chances were slim, our quality, and our fluidity. Then a set-piece and goal were lost. To win games in challenging circumstances, these details are crucial.

It seems more fundamental. Better is expected, as Martinez once said.