Last season Arsenal was just one step away from winning the trophy, unfortunately in several matches they lost points which made City eventually win by 2 points and retain their title. This season Arsenal's performance has been a little inconsistent and several factors have caused them to fail to win several matches, for example several players were given red cards, besides several core players were injured. Plus, Arteta had time to change his system and strategy. Actually Arsenal is quite competitive with his players, but there are things that Arteta needs to fix such as dependence on one player. For example when Odegaard was injured, they lost a creative midfielder in terms of building attacks. In addition, Arteta should have had one pure striker that they can rely on to be their goal-scoring machine. Well, sometimes Arsenal have difficulty breaking through opposing teams that use a defensive system. But if they have players who are indeed specialists in scoring goals, of course it will be very useful and increase the sharpness of their attack line. Unfortunately Arteta did not bring in the striker who they actually needed. By the way, this season there are still enough matches, Arsenal still have a chance even though it is not easy to compete closely with Liverpool.
This season it will be felt again by Arsenal. They will find it difficult to become champions if they are unable to maintain their performance on the winning track. The position in the standings where Arsenal is currently 6 behind plus Liverpool has one match which means if Liverpool wins the difference will be 9 points. In the Premier League standings, a difference of 9 points is of course quite a big difference but if there is a setback on Liverpool's side then Arsenal's chances are quite large to reduce the points gap.
Saka is still injured, of course it is detrimental to Arsenal because Saka's contribution is quite large for Arsenal this season. With Saka's absence, of course, the strategy changes are rearranged, Arteta must see the good potential that other players have when Saka is absent. The next few matches are certainly quite tough for Arsenal such as against Tottenham, Aston Villa.