SETTABLOID

With the Champions League draw conducted on Friday morning, Arsenal have been handed a clearer idea of who they must beat to claim Europe’s top prize this season.

Mikel Arteta’s side successfully navigated the league phase to earn automatic qualification for the last-16, but had to wait for a play-off round to conclude before learning their pathway in full.

With that completed this week, UEFA’s draw has confirmed PSV Eindhoven as the team Arsenal must eliminate to advance to the next stage.

Arsenal can already map out the rest of their season. With 13 Premier League matches left and a pathway to the Champions League final now clear, the race to the finish is very much here.

It is a three-month stretch for Arsenal with plenty at stake – not least because Liverpool have left the door open in the title race after recent results. Mikel Arteta will need every part of his squad to play a key role between now and the end of May if a trophy is to be brought home, though.

His side have been plagued by problems throughout the campaign. Three players are already ruled out for the rest of the season after Takehiro Tomiyasu joined Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus in needing surgery, limiting Arteta’s options.

Fortunately, the head coach has been able to promote Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly confidently into starting players. The pair will both head into next month’s Champions League last-16 matches as likely starters – almost undroppable figures, such has their impact been.

For Arsenal, seven weeks on from their last match in Europe, they can begin to plot the next steps once more. The extended group phase ending in January has left them watching on over the past fortnight as sides outside of the top eight battled it out to remain in the competition.

In the process, a handful of their rivals have been sent packing with Manchester City and Juventus both knocked out. Atalanta were shocked by Club Brugge, whilst even those who remain are not quite in top nick.

William Gallas feels the personality of Diego Costa “can be good” for Arsenal, but believes the former Chelsea man would “turn down” the chance to move there because of his Blues connection.

Arsenal have been left without strikers Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz for the rest of the season due to injuries. With Bukayo Saka also currently sidelined, they are left with the bare bones in attack.

In their last game against Leicester, their attack featured Leandro Trossard up top, with Raheem Sterling – who’s struggled for minutes this season – and 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri either side of him.

The injury situation has benefitted Nwaneri, who’s developing at a good rate, but the Gunners would surely rather have some more quality in other areas, and not be susceptible to a crisis if another injury occurs.

Some fans have proposed free agent Costa as a potential striker reinforcement, and Gallas has assessed the chances of the move working out, though it’s not one which is likely to happen.

In a sense of serious irony, Aston Villa continue to have an enormous say on the Premier League title race. It was Unai Emery returning to the Emirates Stadium that saw Manchester City handed top spot at the end of last season and now, in the space of four weeks, they have levelled the playing field again.

Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium brought back flashes of their second-half collapse when losing 2-0 in the same fixture in mid-April 2024. The slipup there proved costly.

It was the only defeat between January 20 and May 19 that Mikel Arteta’s side suffered in the league in the middle of a 12-game unbeaten run including 11 victories. They would also win the final five to take the race down to the wire but fell short to a relentless City.

Last month’s failure to beat Villa from 2-0 up felt like a defining moment again. It came shortly after Liverpool had burgled a last-minute victory over Brentford and saw the gap at the top stand at six points but Arne Slot’s side had a game in hand.

Arsenal, still yet to really hit top-form, had let the gap open up to Liverpool without putting up much resistance. Since then they have been perfect in terms of results, edging past Wolves, crushing City, and finding a way at Leicester City. Liverpool, conversely, have blinked.

The Reds have played five league games in the same period and won three, like Arsenal. The two draws, away to Everton in the postponed Merseyside derby, and then on Wednesday night at Villa Park, have opened the door ever so slightly.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins could have helped boyhood club Arsenal in their Premier League title race against Liverpool. The 29-year-old was subjected to significant transfer interest from the Gunners in January but he ultimately remained at Villa Park.

Jhon Duran was instead the forward that moved on as he joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr for a sizeable fee. Marcos Asensio and Marcus Rashford joining Villa on loan in the final days of the winter window offered Arsenal some Watkins hope, but the decision had seemingly already been made.

Despite not signing for the club he supports, Watkins has still seemingly found a way to impact their pursuit of the title. On Wednesday evening, league leaders Liverpool made the trip to Villa Park for a clash brought forward from mid-March because of the Reds being in the Carabao Cup final.

Mohamed Salah netted the opening goal just before the half hour mark, but Youri Tielemans struck back under 10 minutes later. Proceedings looked set to be level for the interval, but Watkins netted an impressive header to put Villa in front.

Trent Alexander-Arnold bagged the equaliser in the second 45 but neither team was able to score a winner in the final 30 minutes. As a result, Watkins’ goal led to Liverpool dropping two points in the title race at a ground where Arsenal won.

Arsenal will look to continue their fine Premier League form this weekend as they take on West Ham United. The Hammers managed to beat the Gunners in the same fixture last season following a controversial Tomas Soucek goal.

Declan Rice even gave away a penalty against his old side that David Raya managed to save, but it meant very little come the full-time whistle. After already putting five past West Ham earlier this season, a change of head coach sees Graham Potter resume a rivalry with Mikel Arteta.

Arteta has faced Potter six times, once as Chelsea boss, where the Gunners earned a 1-0 win, then five times when he managed Brighton, which was an even score with two wins each and a draw.

Arteta will be hoping he can call on some wider elements of his team for the game. In a dream scenario, he would have Ben White coming back into the side to give Jurrien Timber a rest.

The same can be said for Riccardo Calafiori, who could operate instead of Myles Lewis-Skelly. Arsenal go to Nottingham Forest next week and will have a quick turnaround of just a few days, meaning resting key starts for the tough visit is important.

Elsewhere, attention will fall again on Mikel Merino. He came off the bench to play up top against Leicester City and would come away with two goals to help win the match and claim all three points for the Gunners.

It was just over one week ago that Arsenal faced a nine-point gap to the top of the Premier League table. They now have a game in hand themselves to cut it down to five.

The momentum has started to swing after a tricky run for Liverpool. Although they remain unbeaten in the league since September’s defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield – the only loss of the season – a run of two draws in three have changed matters.

Add in the shock FA Cup exit to Plymouth Argyle and a Champions League loss at PSV Eindhoven – albeit in a dead rubber – in the last months and there have been signs of frailty from Arne Slot’s men. With Manchester City next up and Newcastle United to follow, this is a key period for the campaign’s long-term leaders.

Despite some turbulence – losing both Carabao Cup semi-final ties to Newcastle and being beaten by Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup third round – there has still been a relentless nature to Arsenal in the league. It is now 15 games since they were bettered by Newcastle (again) at the start of November.

That week, which included defeat at Bournemouth and a draw to Liverpool, is really the only thing keeping Arsenal from being right on top of their rivals. The rest has been strong results-wise. And even now, there is still a big lead to overcome in 14 matches, but the picture is a lot more healthy.

Arsenal still have to go to Liverpool as well in what could be a true decider in May. Before then, the task is to stay within touching distance and to keep the pressure on.

It is a visit from West Ham immediately on the horizon for Arteta’s men as they look to crank things up on Liverpool before their trip to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Arsenal are the chasers in this scenario and know that anything but perfection will allow a chance for Liverpool to reassert themselves at the summit.

The key factor is that just like Liverpool’s Merseyside derby game in hand, Arsenal do not have the points on the board even if the potential difference is only five. Liverpool know all too well how dangerous counting their chickens too early can be as they squandered the opportunity to go nine clear last week at Goodison Park.

Arsenal are in initial talks with Florian Wirtz and his camp as they look to beat a host of other top clubs to the Bayer Leverkusen ace, according to a report.

Wirtz won the Bundesliga Player of the Season award after playing a starring role in Leverkusen lifting the league title for the first time in their history last term. The attacking midfielder notched 18 goals and 20 assists in 49 games across all competitions and has continued that fine form this season, too.

His record stands at 15 goals and 12 assists from 35 appearances so far.

However, the 2024-25 campaign is likely to be Wirtz’s last at the BayArena, with elite clubs queueing up to sign him in a blockbuster deal this summer.

Arsenal are teeing up a move for Wirtz and have ‘long been in contact’ with the player and his camp to discuss a potential move to the Premier League and contract terms.

The Gunners are ‘long-term admirers’ of Wirtz. They have been given a boost as the 21-year-old is open to testing himself out in English football for the first time.

However, the report does note that a deal will be ‘tricky’ to complete. That is because Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are all hoping to land Wirtz too.

Madrid hope to convince the playmaker to follow manager Alonso to the Bernabeu. Bayern, meanwhile, want him to link up with Germany team-mate Jamal Musiala in their team.

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu has taken to social media platform Instagram to announce that he has had knee surgery after it was reported last week that he could go under the knife.

The versatile Gunners star has seen action once in 2024-25, when he came off the bench in the closing stages against Southampton last October after returning from a long-term knee injury.

Tomiyasu had an operation on his knee last year, spending three months out of action, and he is set to miss the rest of the current campaign and the beginning of next season following a second operation.

William Saliba and Bukayo Saka have both sent their best wishes to their Arsenal teammate after his announcement, and manager Mikel Arteta will hope to cope without him going forward.

Tomiyasu will be praying to return stronger and finally overcome his persistent knee issues given that he has missed several months of action because of them.

The 26-year-old has missed over 580 days due to calf and knee problems since joining Arsenal, and the team doctors are expecting his fitness in the knee to improve significantly once his lengthy rehabilitation ends.

The North Londoners could do with his availability ahead of the final stretch of the campaign, but they have been handed an injury boost at the back as Ben White is nearing full fitness and will be available for selection when they host West Ham United on Saturday having been on the bench against Leicester City last weekend.