Liverpool will drop points, but can Arsenal be there to capitalise?
Liverpool manager Arne Slot and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta (Photo by Maja Hitij/Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arsenal's 5-1 over Pep Guardiola's team mean they reduce the gap to the league leaders back to six points, after Liverpool beat Bournemouth 2-0 in an impressive result.

The Reds do have a game in hand over their title challengers, with it being another tricky away test against local rivals Everton, with the Toffees winning their last three domestic games.

This could be a game where Arne Slot's team fail to get all three points, slightly opening the door for Arsenal to make a march on Liverpool, but if they want to win this title they will need the Reds to drop a substantial amount of points, and hope they can continue their impressive domestic form.

  • They can prove that they can do it

In the second half of the 2023/24 season, Mikel Arteta's Arsenal only dropped four points in the league, sprinting past Liverpool and getting agonisingly close to champions Man City.

At times, they did this while not being able to start key players, including Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber, who have both not just played a lot of games in an injury-stricken Arsenal team, they have played at a very high level week-in week-out.

They also had to use squad players such as Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho and Leandro Trossard starting many games in this impressive run, proving that the Gunners have a very strong team.

Overall, this shows that Arsenal are capable of going on a lengthy win streak, which could take them to the title.

Similar to last season, the problem may be that they have left themselves too much ground to make up, and now have to rely on Liverpool dropping points as much as themselves.

The Reds have looked unstoppable at times, playing some wonderful football and getting some big results.

Even if they have an up and down end to the season, they still may go on and win the league if the Gunners cannot take advantage, something that they have failed to do multiple times this season.

  • Liverpool's luck has to run out....?

It has been no secret that the Gunners have not had much luck this campaign, whether that is injuries, refereeing decisions, red cards and an almost perfect Liverpool team who have taken advantage Arsenal's dropped points.

Along with that, Liverpool have been very lucky with injuries, with Caoimhin Kelleher and Conor Bradley doing phenominal jobs when stepping in for the injured Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Apart from that, the only main injury that Liverpool had to deal with is Ibrahima Konate who spent multiple weeks on the sideline.

They have been a lot luckier in not just the injuries they have gotten, but the quantity compared to the Gunners, who argubally miss their best player in Bukayo Saka until the end of March.

One question around Liverpool is how they would cope if a key player would get injured.

Two of these players are Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch, who have been two of Liverpool's best players this season and have helped the Reds rise to a commanding position in the league.

If one of them or both miss a large portion of the second half of the season, they could lose a lot of points, with their depth in midfield not hugely strong, and Salah being one of the best players in the world at the moment.

Arsenal had something similar happen in the 2022/23 season, with William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu had season ending injuries the same game, with the Gunners having limited defensive depth, and ended up losing the league from a similar position that Liverpool are now in.

If Liverpool's luck do go downhill for the second part of the season, it is firstly no guarantee that they will drop points, and if they do Arsenal will need to keep up the pace with them with a string of results, and hope their bad luck does not continue.

  • Fixtures in Gunners' favour leading to showdown

Another thing that has favoured Liverpool over Arsenal this season is the difficulty of fixtures so far, with the Gunners having already played many of their toughest away games unlike the Reds.

For the rest of the season, the only top half teams that Arteta's team have yet to visit are Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, whilst Liverpool need to play half of the top 10 teams away.

Another factor would also be if one of the teams make it to the Carabao Cup final, meaning squeezing another game in an already busy schedule.

Arsenal's schedule is slightly less busier than Liverpool's because of their early exit in the FA Cup, but this may be a blessing in disguise as after the second leg cup tie against Newcastle United, they have 10 days before their next game, with the team going out to Dubai for warm weather training and a well-earned rest.

After what happened after their trip there last season, this could be what the Gunners need to take advantage of Liverpool in the hunt for the Premier League title.

Overall, Arsenal have proved in the past that they should still be lurking around for the rest of the season, and the many reasons above prove that case.

On the other hand, they might have too much to do with a thin squad, no incomings in the January transfer window and possibly a nine point gap to Liverpool going into the business end of the season.

It could all come down to the game at Anfield in gameweek 36, with this possibly being a title decider.