Let's say that, somehow, before the 2024-25 season, I was able to tell you two things:
1. Rodri would get injured, and Manchester City's aging and tiny squad would finally implode in on itself
2. One other team would emerge as the clear favorite to win the league before we'd even hit the halfway point.
What would you have done? Some of you might have booked a flight or train to London for May. Others, perhaps, would have placed a sizable wager on the team that finished second in the Premier League in each of the past two seasons to finally get over the hump and win their first league title since they went undefeated in 2003-04.
After back-to-back campaigns of pushing City deep into the spring, Arsenal entered the season as that rare kind of multiyear title contender that was only supposed to get better. Rather than maxing out a couple of years with a squad of peak-age players, the average age of Mikel Arteta's squad last season (25.0) was the third youngest in the league.
Yet, while City have collapsed and an odds-on title favorite has emerged, it's not Arsenal. Instead, they're six points back of Liverpool, who still have a game in hand. On a points-per-game basis, the Gunners are closer to ninth than to the top of the table.
Just 16 games in, it's already feeling like it might be a lost Premier League season in North London. So what's behind Arsenal's struggles? Let us rank the reasons.