London Key Arsenal Ends Bridesmaid's Nightmare

LONDON, THURSDAY — Mathematically, Arsenal only needs 34 points from the remaining 13 matches of the Premier League to end a 21-year trophy drought in that competition. The key for "The Gunners" to secure the title lies at "home," namely London.

The reason is that Arsenal's remaining six matches will be held in London. This will begin with the derby against Brentford on Friday (13/2/2026) at 03:00 WIB, at the Gtech Community Stadium.

By sweeping the matches in London, Arsenal has a great opportunity to end the "bridesmaid" curse, referring to the title of "bride" for teams that celebrate the season as champions of the English League.

Brentford is not a team that easily concedes three points to the league leaders. The positive trend of "The Bees," as Brentford is nicknamed, during the month of February has heightened Arsenal's vigilance.

Starting the month of love by defeating the third-ranked team, Aston Villa, and then continuing to overcome Newcastle United, is evidence of Brentford's impressive situation in the locker room. Moreover, both intense matches were won on the opponents' home ground.

In addition, in the four seasons of their encounters in the English Premier League, Brentford has often posed difficulties for Arsenal. They have held the Gunners to a draw twice at the Emirates Stadium, specifically in the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 seasons. After facing Brentford, Arsenal will have five remaining London derbies, consisting of three away matches and two home games.

They will visit the headquarters of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and will play their final match of the season at home against Crystal Palace. At the Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard and his teammates will host Chelsea and Fulham.

Arsenal will also face their direct rival, Manchester City, at the Etihad Stadium on April 18. Similar to the 2022-2023 season, the meeting between the two teams is likely to be decisive in determining the champion this summer.

While Andrews was on track to lead Brentford to European competition, his predecessor, (Thomas) Frank, was dismissed by Spurs as of Wednesday.

This situation has led Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta to dismiss the notion that his team is the favorite to win the English Premier League trophy for the 2025-2026 season. For instance, Opta states that Arsenal's chances of becoming English champions stand at 90 percent.

According to Arteta, his team's six-point lead over City means nothing. Arteta's statement implies a lingering trauma within the Arsenal squad from the 2022-2023 season. Three seasons ago, Arsenal still finished in second place, despite having an eight-point advantage over City during the January-February 2023 period.

“(The advantage of the points) means nothing. We still have many matches to achieve what we want. Therefore, we must not focus on the current league position,” said Arteta as reported on the club's website during a press conference ahead of the match against Brentford, Wednesday (11/2/2026).

"For now, we have done our job well. We will continue to assess and strive to improve ourselves, so that we are ready to face Brentford," he stated.

Meanwhile, Keith Andrews, the manager of Brentford, praised the cohesion of his team, which has managed to win their last two away matches. This performance has helped the Bees to remain in the top seven of the standings. The victory has opened up their chances to compete in European club competitions next season.

"We have a special group of players. I feel that the players are getting to know each other better, understanding their qualities as individuals, and realizing their abilities as players. I am pleased to witness our growth," said Andrews, who replaced Thomas Frank at Brentford at the beginning of this season.

Andrews expressed his team's ambition to pose difficulties for Arsenal at home. The Bees' goal is to continue their positive trend against Arsenal.

In order to maintain consistency at the top of the standings, Arsenal must secure victories in the remaining three matches in February, which will be played away against Brentford, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Spurs.

A clean sweep of those three matches is important for Arsenal to maintain confidence and mental condition to engage in a sprint with City in the final three months of this season.

Reflecting on the 2022-2023 season, Arsenal recorded an average of 2.38 points per game from August 2022 to February 2023. This figure is the highest points total for Arsenal since the unbeaten season of 2003-2004.

However, Arsenal failed to maintain momentum even though City suffered a defeat in February 2023. The poor results in February affected Arsenal's mentality, causing them to relinquish an eight-point lead.

Si Meriam only recorded 1.93 points per match during the period of March-May 2023, which forced them to accept watching City lift the Premier League trophy at that time. In this season, Arsenal has played 25 matches with an average collection of 2.24 points per match. This figure represents the highest points tally in the last decade since the 2022-2023 edition.

In the last four seasons, Arsenal has averaged 2.1 points per match from the start of the season until the end of February. They tend to experience a decline in points over the last three seasons, as only one season recorded more than 2 points per match, which was 3.1 points per match in the 2023-2024 season.

In the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2024-2025 seasons, the average points collected in the final three months of the season was a maximum of 1.93 points per match.

While Andrews was on track to lead Brentford to European competition, his predecessor, Frank, was dismissed by Spurs as of Wednesday (11/2/2026). Frank failed to secure a victory for Spurs in the last eight matches since the turn of the year.

The result leaves Spurs in 16th place, just five points above the relegation zone.

Indeed, in the seventh week of this season, the Spurs briefly occupied the third position and were only two points away from Arsenal, who topped the standings. The point gap between the two teams reached 27 points when the Spurs decided to terminate their collaboration with Frank. (AFP)