As in any race to the top, whether it be to become Premier League champions or Prime Minister, it’s always vital to seize control of the centre ground.
Sir Keir Starmer, an Arsenal fan, knows all too well about that. And now, as the title race hurtles towards its thrilling final count, Mikel Arteta’s side have relinquished their grip on it too.
Arsenal’s lack of command and creativity down the middle is proving one of the key reasons their pursuit of a first league crown in more than two decades is threatening to derail, with two fierce London derbies coming up against Tottenham on Sunday and Chelsea a week later.
With two wins from their last seven Premier League games, Arsenal are wobbling again – will they fall short in a fourth successive title race?
There have been warning signs for a few weeks now – this is not the team that won 10 in a row in the autumn, while keeping eight consecutive clean sheets. While they remain imperious in Europe, the Gunners have been found out in the league, registering four draws and a home defeat by Manchester United since the turn of the year.
So what’s happened? Why have they slumped again? And will it be terminal to their chances of finally winning the Premier League? Here, JAMES SHARPE reveals what’s really going on – and it’s a distinctly ‘central’ problem.
Arsenal have won just two of their last seven league matches, and drew with bottom club Wolves on Wednesday
Mikel Arteta’s side must arrest their slide or face being beaten to the Premier League title for the fourth season in a row
Since New Year’s Day, Arsenal’s players have not provided a single assist from outside the box within the width of the six-yard area and created only five chances. Three of them have come via Declan Rice.
Across the first 19 games of the season, seven assists came from that area of the pitch via countless chances created stretching all the way back into their own half.
Arsenal’s assists in the Premier League from the opening day to the end of 2025, including several from central areas
…and how it has changed since the start of 2026 for the Gunners
It was after Arsenal’s FA Cup victory over Wigan that Arteta admitted he was concerned the injuries to his midfield might have an impact on the run-in.
Without the craft of captain Martin Odegaard to pick locks in deep defences, or the intelligent movement and work rate of Kai Havertz or Mikel Merino, Arteta has been proved right.
It’s why he’s been forced to use Bukayo Saka in a central role over the last two games, a new position for him but one he’s already proven he can thrive in.
It didn’t take him long against Wolves to time a run into the box to head Arsenal in front and then play the type of splitting pass the side are so lacking that led to a great chance for Gabriel Martinelli.
Bukayo Saka has taken on a new role in the last two matches, and both scored and played a defence-splitting pass to Viktor Gyokeres in the draw with Wolves
After Saka limped off with 15 minutes to play and with Arsenal clinging to a one-goal lead -a common state of play for them in recent months – they created just a single chance.
Even for the second goal just after the hour, it was centre back Gabriel who played the kind of pass their current midfielders are rarely attempting themselves.
Left back Piero Hincapie just about stayed onside and finished off his first Arsenal goal. It had seemed enough at that stage to take the leaders seven points clear of Manchester City.
Piero Hincapie (5) arcs his run to stay onside and finish off a defence-splitting pass from centre back Gabriel
Opponents are working hard to block off Arsenal’s passing lanes and force them into wide areas, but they need to be much braver on the ball. Take this example from the first half against Brentford.
Arsenal break forward through Declan Rice and even though Brentford are packing the centre of the park, both Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke make runs in behind.
Instead of trying to slip either of them through, Rice knocks the ball out wide, Arsenal lump the ball into the box and Brentford head it clear.
Viktor Gyokeres (14) and Noni Madueke (top centre) made runs but Declan Rice (in possession) played the ball out wide left instead
Eberechi Eze, starting in the No 10 role in that game, did not play a single pass into the box for a team-mate. It was no wonder Arteta brought him off at half-time for Odegaard, who was brighter and injected energy but could not inspire victory.
It’s become a common theme. The number of times Arsenal string more than 10 passes together and end it with either a shot or touch in the box has almost halved.
The passes played into the box by Arsenal’s midfielders have fallen drastically since the turn of the year.
Arsenal are averaging three fewer shots per game in 2026 compared to the first half of the season and sit 10th in the division for attempts on goal, and the expected goals (xG) figures the Gunners are racking up has dropped from 1.87 per game to 1.36, the 10th-worst in the division in that time, only just higher than Fulham and Leeds.
A drop of 0.51 per game might not seem like much but over a season that adds up to 20 fewer goals. And when across the course of Premier League history each goal equates, give or take, to a point, that can make a huge difference in a title race decided on the finest of margins.
Everything about their capitulation at Wolves on Wednesday, when they became the first table-toppers in Premier League history to squander a two-goal lead to a side in the relegation zone, spoke of a team going into its shell right when champions need to stand tall.
Goalkeeper David Raya went from playing out from the back in the first half to humping it long in the second. Arsenal’s possession dropped from 58 per cent in the opening period to having less of the ball than one of the worst teams in Premier League history.
They got the ball into the Wolves penalty area 20 times in the first half, and four in the second. Their pass success rate plummeted from 86 per cent to 76 per cent, and from 82 to 70 in the final third.
They have now squandered leads against Manchester United, Brentford and Wolves within their last five games. Only Crystal Palace and West Ham have dropped more points in 2026 than Arsenal’s seven.
Arteta is a risk-averse manager obsessed with percentages, and Arsenal are paying the price for sitting on their leads and not going in for the kill.
That character will be put to the test again this weekend against a Tottenham side under new boss Igor Tudor whose teams are renowned for an intense press. He asks his players to rotate and interchange positions, too, which may, with a squad still getting to grips with his style, lead to gaps to exploit.
Arteta just needs someone to find them. That’s where the lesser-spotted Christian Norgaard could provide the answer.
The midfielder has played just 32 minutes of league football this season – as it stands his four appearances would not automatically qualify him for a winner’s medal even if Arsenal do hold on – but against Wigan showed how progressive he can be on the ball (albeit against a side struggling in League One). He played a sensational pass over the top for Gabriel Jesus to net Arsenal’s fourth.
Against Wolves, on the other hand, a fatigued Martin Zubimendi – who has played 2,270 league minutes, or 71 times as much as former Brentford captain Norgaard – continually passed sideways whenever he got the ball.
Christian Norgaard’s pass map against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup (playing left to right)
And Martin Zubimendi’s against Wolves in the Premier League, showing a far more sideways approach
Christian Norgaard is in danger of not automatically getting a medal even if Arsenal do win the title, as he has still only played just four times in the league for a total of 32 minutes
Is it any wonder that Zubimendi, who has been so key to Arsenal’s title challenge, looked laboured when you consider how much he has been asked to play?
Likewise, full back Jurrien Timber, who was on fire in the first half of the campaign but has dropped off recently and struggled against Wolves, has racked up 2,182 minutes while his back-up, Ben White, has played just 411.
Now begins the biggest three months of Arteta’s tenure. If Arsenal are to hold their nerve, he needs to pick the players able to wrestle back some control.
