GOAL takes a look back at the crucial moments that led to Mikel Arteta's side being pegged back by Manchester City
Arsenal’s title dreams are over. After leading the way for so long, the Gunners were overtaken by a relentless Manchester City, and Pep Guardiola’s side have now disappeared into the distance.
Sunday’s 3-0 mauling by Brighton means the Gunners now know that if they now lose at Nottingham Forest next Saturday, that the title will officially be City’s. And even if they do avoid defeat, then a win for City over Chelsea 24 hours later will seal the deal.
It’s a hammer blow for Mikel Arteta’s side, who had an eight-point lead at the top of the table just six weeks ago, but have begun to limp over the line while City have been unstoppable in galloping towards the finish line.
GOAL takes a look at some of the key moments from the season that saw an Arsenal side who had looked unstoppable for so long, ultimately have to settle for second best…
Getty ImagesDyche’s debut
This was a game that came one week too late for Arsenal. Everton were a shambles under Frank Lampard, were shipping goals all over the place and looked a very easy team to play against.
But they sacked Lampard just ahead of Arsenal’s visit and replaced him with Sean Dyche, who took charge of the Toffees for the first time against the Gunners.
Goodison Park was a cauldron on the day, and a fired up Everton looked a completely different side as they inflicted a first league defeat in 14 games on Arsenal.
AdvertisementGettyLee Mason’s mistake
It feels like a long time ago now, but the draw against Brentford when VAR Lee Mason forgot to draw the offside lines and so awarded Ivan Toney an equaliser that should have been ruled out was costly for Arsenal.
Ultimately, it’s not going to prove decisive in terms of the league table, as City are going to win the title by more than two points, but at the time it meant that Arsenal went into their home game against City on the back of two games without a win.
Who knows what would have happened had they go into that match on the back of a 1-0 victory rather than a 1-1 draw? It could have given them the confidence boost they needed to overcome Pep Guardiola’s side.
Getty ImagesSaliba’s injury
The sight of William Saliba limping off during the first half of Arsenal’s Europa League last-16 second leg against Sporting CP was a worrying one. But no-one would have expected his back injury to have quite as big an impact on Arsenal’s season that it actually did.
The hope was that Saliba would be back relatively swiftly, but the France centre-back has not featured since, and his absence has had a huge impact on Arsenal’s season.
Arteta’s side have picked up just 15 points from a possible 27 without Saliba, conceding 17 goals in nine games.
(C)Getty ImagesTomiyasu's injury
What made Saliba’s injury even worse, was that Arsenal also lost Takehiro Tomiyasu in the same game. The right-back suffered a nasty knee injury against Sporting and was almost immediately ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Had Tomiyasu have been fit, it’s highly likely that he would have come in at right-back, allowing Ben White to move inside to partner Gabriel Magalhaes at centre-back for the rest of the campaign. That would certainly have made Arsenal a far stronger defensive unit than they have been in recent weeks.
