The thought of Arsenal winning the league has remained a reality thanks to the excellent form in 2024. The Gunners have lost one league game in nearly four months, dropping points in only one other which was a 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

Despite this, they currently remain second-favourites to lift the league crown with Manchester City four points behind Arsenal but with two games in hand. These two games are both away from home at Brighton this Thursday and at Tottenham Hotspur on the final midweek of the season - May 14.

Arsenal meanwhile have just four games remaining: away at Tottenham, at home to Bournemouth before travelling to Manchester United and then on the final day hosting Everton. It is that penultimate match however that is standing out.

In the 2001/02 season, Arsenal went to Old Trafford in the second to last fixture of the Premier League campaign knowing that a win would crown them champions. With Thierry Henry and Tony Adams unavailable and Dennis Bergkamp only fit enough for the bench, Sylvain Wiltord wrote himself into Arsenal’s history books as he scored a rebounded Freddie Ljungberg effort past Fabien Barthez.

Twenty-two years later, the same scenario still has a chance of materialising. However, instead of beating United to the title, it would be their city rivals who would fall foul of the challenge should the Gunners win.

That said, for this situation to occur Arsenal would need to be able to go more than six points clear of Liverpool with this win (the Reds face Aston Villa the day after), and more than six points clear of Manchester City who play Tottenham and West Ham in their final two games. From a Liverpool perspective, if Arsenal beat both Tottenham this weekend and Bournemouth next weekend and Jurgen Klopp’s side fail to win two of their next three games (Everton [A] West Ham [A] Tottenham [H]) a win for the Gunners at Old Trafford takes them out of the title race.

To also take City out of the equation and to win the league at Old Trafford, Liverpool of course need to befall that aforementioned fate, whereas Pep Guardiola’s side having the two games after Arsenal play United make it trickier. They would need to drop more points to open up a potential seven-point lead for Arsenal following a win at Old Trafford.

Currently four points behind them at the time of writing, their games in hand mean they play four matches before Man United vs Arsenal. Away to Brighton, away to Nottingham Forest, at home to Wolves and away to Fulham.

Should City either drop points in three of those four games, or lose two of them, with Arsenal winning against Tottenham and Bournemouth of course, it opens up the door to a magical night in the Theatre of Dreams. The likelihood of both Liverpool and City realising these scenarios however is obviously very small. It does not stop us dreaming though!

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