Gunners defy January blues and are throwing a title party while rivals misplace the invite

We’re at the halfway point of the English Premier League season and the only wobble coming from league leaders Arsenal is in the leftover jelly from one festive meal too many. 

While their rivals trip over banana skins of their own making, Arsenal have turned what is traditionally their most joyless stretch of the season into something that looks suspiciously like an early title parade.

The open-topped buses haven’t been booked quite yet, but the champagne is definitely chilling somewhere in north London.

January was once Arsenal’s bogey month, the graveyard of seasons when hope quietly slipped away. Now, it’s becoming their power play – a chance to grind away results and pull clear while everyone else looks for excuses.

Six points clear, to be precise.

They are quietly dismantling the idea that January has to be miserable.

For years, Arsenal’s relationship with the season’s midpoint has been complicated at best. January slumps, injury crises and confidence collapses have been familiar, with the labels of chokers and bottlers tossed around with gay abandon. 

This was usually the month where promise faded and rivals smelt blood – and the ill-fitting bridesmaids’ dresses were hauled out of cupboards once more. 

This season, it’s been the opposite.

Arsenal have navigated the festive season chaos with control, consistency and just the right amount of swagger. They’re not steamrolling everyone – the statement thrashing of Aston Villa aside – but they’re doing what champions do … winning when it matters, finding solutions when problems appear, and letting others self-destruct.

And self-destruct they have.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, the perennial yardstick, have looked human. Injuries have bitten, they’ve lost their rhythm and dropped points have turned the title race from a procession into a pursuit. 

Liverpool have been blunt in front of goal and leaky at the back, managerial troubled waters are overflowing at the Bridge, Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils revival stalled on the tracks and as a result he's been shown the door, while the rest of the so-called chasing pack are arguing over fourth place rather than threatening first.

It has created a perfect storm for Arsenal – and, crucially, they’ve actually taken advantage of it.

This is where previous versions of the Gunners might have blinked. A slip here, a wobble there, a familiar feeling of tension creeping into the Emirates. 

Instead, Mikel Arteta’s side have shown something that can’t be measured on a stats sheet: composure.

They look comfortable with being hunted, comfortable with expectation, and with the idea that this might actually be their year.

Declan Rice has brought authority to midfield, the defence has rediscovered its steel, and there’s a growing sense that Arsenal know exactly who they are. They don’t need to dominate every match, just control enough of them. It’s not always spectacular – but January isn’t about spectacle, it’s often about survival.

And the Gunners are firing! 

Of course, it would be reckless to declare the title race over in early January. History has a habit of humbling anyone who gets carried away with their predictions. One injury, one red card, one brutal run of away fixtures, and momentum can evaporate overnight.

Arsenal fans know this better than most.

But there’s also something different in the air. This doesn’t feel like a team clinging to first place and hoping nobody notices. It feels like a side building a buffer, brick by brick, while rivals argue about whose fault it is that they’re falling behind.

Six points isn’t insurmountable but in January, it’s huge. It changes the psychology of a team. Arsenal can afford a stumble without panicking. Their rivals can’t afford another mistake without the pressure dial ratcheting up another notch. Suddenly every dropped point elsewhere is greeted with dread.

And that’s when title races really start to tilt. This may be the moment when the Gunners truly seize control of the title race.