After blowing a two-goal lead to draw against the Premier League’s bottom club Wolves, there will be no dodging the questions on whether Arsenal are mentally ready to end their 22-year wait to become champions.
For the first time really this season, the title race is not completely in the control of Mikel Arteta and his players.
If Manchester City – five points behind in second place – win all of their remaining 12 games, which includes a home meeting against Arsenal, they will finish first.
The same, though, can be said for the Gunners, who have 11 matches left – and they win the April encounter at Etihad Stadium.
But after dropping four crucial points in successive draws against Brentford and Wolves, they are in danger of being haunted by the ghost of past failures.
Three successive runners-up finishes, two of them to Pep Guardiola’s men, provide a constant reminder.
Former Arsenal forward Alan Smith admitted “that word bottle will be used quite a bit in the next few days”.
The scenario seemed a lot different when Piero Hincapie slotted home his first goal for the club in the 56th minute, adding to Bukayo Saka’s fifth-minute opener.
But the Gunners lacked the control and ruthlessness to finish off a Wolves side that had lost their nine previous meetings and are heading for the Championship.
The hosts showed remarkable spirit to fight back with Hugo Bueno’s 20-yard curler giving them hope. Then, in the fourth minute of added time, 19-year-old Tom Edozie – off the bench for his senior debut – pounced on a mix-up between Arsenal pair David Raya and Gabriel and his shot went in off Riccardo Calafiori for a dramatic, dreamy leveller.
Arsenal next face London derbies with Tottenham and Chelsea and they have worryingly started to wobble at a decisive stage in the season.
Arteta knows his side will come under fire and scrutiny.
“Any opinion you have to take it on the chin,” he said. “Any bullet, take it, because we didn’t perform at the level required.
“Anything anyone says can be right because we didn’t do what we had to do. The way to do it is on the pitch on Sunday [against Spurs].”
Wolves boss Rob Edwards said his side “knew there is a massive pressure” on Arsenal at the minute – and they capitalised on that.
The Gunners have not been performing at their best since the start of 2026 and won only two of their last seven league matches, with victories against Leeds and Sunderland.
Arteta added: “Certain basics we have to do, we did them so poorly, one after the other.
“It is better not to judge it. We are all too emotional about it. You have to take the hit because we deserve it. It is very easy with emotion to say things that can damage the team. Everyone wants to do their best.”
Only Crystal Palace and West Ham (both eight) have dropped more points from winning positions in the league in 2026 than Arsenal (seven) and the Gunners have now failed to win from a leading position in three of their last five league games.
This was also the first time in Premier League history that a side starting the day bottom of the table avoided defeat to the leaders, despite trailing by two or more goals.
“It feels like a pivotal moment, a vital one, maybe a turning point,” Smith added on Sky Sports.
“It’s in Manchester City’s hands now. With their experience and Guardiola’s experience they will really fancy it now. They can almost feel the nerves of the Arsenal team watching that.
“Having been 2-0 up against the team rock bottom on nine points is just not good enough for the team hoping to win the title. It doesn’t bode well for Arsenal to be able to handle the pressure.”
The result also meant Arsenal failed to win an away league game in which they had a two-goal lead for the first time since April 2023 at West Ham, stretching back 18 matches.
Forward Saka, who ended a 15-match goal drought in all competitions, said there was a “big difference” with how his side performed in the second half compared to the first.
“Disappointed, not much else to say,” added the England international. “We dropped our standards big time and we got punished for it.”
Just a day after signing a new five-year deal, he had put his side in front after playing in the No10 role again, but could only watch in dismay at the end having gone off in the 73rd minute after receiving treatment.
“It’s very flat,” added Saka. “It’s time for us to reflect on the last few performances and fix the issues immediately, so we can get back to winning games, go on a run and build momentum because we’ve lost that a bit right now.”
“I just think we have to get back to our level. Do the basics right and we’ve got more than enough quality in this team to win games, especially in the games where we’ve been dropping points in recently. We need to fix that and that’s all our focus is right now.”
With a north London derby to follow at Tottenham on Sunday, Arsenal have to respond quickly.
Spurs will have Igor Tudor at the helm and they will hope he can give them the ‘new manager bounce’ to add to the Gunners’ misery.
Arteta admitted: “We need to go through the pain, looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now on Sunday.
“Anything we say from here is fine but we need to keep it all in our tummies and show it on Sunday.”
