Martin Keown believes this season is different to previous campaigns for Arsenal for one specific reason.
The Gunners sit pretty at the top of the Premier League, four points clear of second-placed Manchester City, while they’ve now gone 14 matches without losing in all competitions.
That said, City beat Liverpool after Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a draw by Sunderland, creating some nervousness amongst Arsenal supporters about the reduced points gap with Pep Guardiola’s team.
Nevertheless, Keown is confident that this year won’t be the same as the last three for the current league leaders.
Martin Keown suggests Arsenal are now winning games they haven’t in previous seasons
Arsenal have already gained several points on last season’s corresponding fixtures.
The Gunners beat Newcastle at St James’ Park after losing there in the 2024/25 campaign, while they beat West Ham at the Emirates having lost that game last term.
They also claimed wins over Crystal Palace and Fulham, home and away respectively, both of which were games they drew last year.
This means that Arteta’s side are on course to enjoy a much-improved points tally, and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has essentially argued that this will be the difference for his old club.
“Arsenal have played six away games, Jim, you know, in that period,” he said on the Outspoken Podcast.
“If you look at the games, Manchester City have only played five. Up for them next is Newcastle. Ok, Arsenal are at home against Spurs. This has been Man United away, now a very difficult game, Liverpool, Newcastle. These are all the games Arsenal have played. Sunderland as well.”
“From an Arsenal viewpoint, twice you’ve led it and twice you were reeled in by Manchester City,” presenter Jim White said.
“This is different this year,” Keown replied.
“How is it different?”
“They didn’t come back at Newcastle last year. They did this year. They got a very important goal against Manchester City as well,” Keown explained.
“I don’t think you look over your shoulder. You look ahead and you go and grasp it and you take the opportunities that are there. What you need is a full selection of players to pick from, and they’ve not quite got that at the moment.”
How Arsenal and Manchester City are performing compared to last season
Using corresponding results from the previous season is a useful way for tracking a team’s progress across the course of a campaign.
Arsenal are undoubtedly performing better in the fixtures they’ve had so far compared to how they did in the same fixtures last term, although so are City.
City are clearly Arsenal’s primary title rivals after they beat Liverpool on Saturday, so monitoring their progress will be useful for Arteta and his coaching staff.
| Arsenal and Manchester City corresponding fixture progress | ||
| Arsenal | Man City | |
| Points | +7 | +10 |
| Goals Scored | -3 | +2 |
| Goals Conceded | -7 | -13 |
Unfortunately for Arsenal, City have actually performed better than the Gunners, although part of this is that they accumulated fewer points than them last season.
Guardiola’s side are ten points better off compared to their corresponding results from last season, while Arsenal are only seven points better off.
The Citizens have also scored two more goals and conceded 13 fewer, while Arsenal have scored three fewer and conceded seven fewer.
This does not bode well for the Gunners.
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