‘Grade A bottling’ – Arsenal give Man City major title boost – and despairing fans demand Mikel Arteta is sacked

Arsenal are in real danger of once again throwing away the Premier League title – and some fans are even calling for Mikel Arteta’s head.

For the second top-flight match in a row, the Gunners have had to settle for a point when leading – this time against bottom of the table Wolves.

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After a 1-1 draw at Brentford last week, the north London outfit threw away a two-goal lead at Molineux on Wednesday night to draw 2-2.

A stoppage-time equaliser which saw the ball deflect in-off Riccardo Calafiori in comical fashion has given fresh hope to Manchester City that they can snatch the title away from Arsenal.

While Arsenal’s draw in the Midlands has extended their lead at the top to five points, the Citizens have a game in hand.

And with City to play Newcastle at home on Saturday, who they dispatched 5-1 over two Carabao Cup semi-final legs, that could be cut down to two.

Arsenal then face bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur away from home on Sunday, where Spurs could be buoyed by a new manager bounce following Igor Tudon’s interim appointment.

The Carabao Cup finalists, who will play City in the Wembley showdown on March 22 before facing them at the Etihad on April 18, made unwanted history as a result of their draw at Wolves.

Never before in the Premier League had a side sitting in 20th spot managed to avoid defeat against the side starting the day in top spot when trailing by two goals.

As talkSPORT’s Jason Cundy said on The Sports Bar, that’s what you call ‘Grade A bottling’.

Gunner bottle it?

In 2026 alone, Arsenal have won just three out of their eight Premier League matches.

They have dropped nine points from winning positions this season, with seven of those coming in the last month [against Manchester United, Brentford and Wolves].

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And there are now major fears from Gooners that their quest to win a first league title since 2004 will enter a 23rd year.

Speaking on The Sports Bar after Arsenal’s latest disappointment, disgruntled fan Chris is adamant that Arteta should not be at the helm of the club.

Chris raged: “The title race is finished, it’s over, done. Over and out.

“Two wins out of our last seven against teams like [Nottingham] Forest and tonight against pathetic Wolves, who are going down.

“This team are bottle jobs, including the manager, now we’ve got to go to Spurs and Chelsea, they’ve got no confidence.

“They’re bottle jobs, the lot of them, the players know it’s over, the process is over, title race is over, it’s finished.

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“The blue sharks are lurking and once they go top of that league, which they will very shortly, it’s over.

“You cannot be 2-0 up against Wolves and draw. That’s pathetic. This is on Arteta.”

And when pressed whether Arteta can ever guide Arsenal to a league title, Chris replied: “No. He should’ve been sacked three years ago.”

The view on Arteta is one shared by many supporters, who took to social media to vent their anger at the Spaniard.

One X post read: “A proper club would sack Arteta tonight.”

Another messaged: “If the board are serious, Arteta should be sacked tomorrow.”

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A third added: “Arsenal should just sack Arteta now and bring in [Cesc] Fabregas.”

And this fan stated: “We need to sack Arteta asap, to save this season.

“New manager bounce will help us win the Premier League at least, potentially Champions League.”

Arteta reaction

For Arteta, he has declared that Wolves deserved to walk away with a point, as he lambasted his side’s second half display.

He said: “Very difficult, but we have to take it, because it is a result that probably we deserve in the manner that we played in the second half.

“So, two very different halves, the first one, totally dominated the game, and the second one, nowhere near the standards that are required to win a Premier League game in the manner that we have to, so, it’s us to blame there.”

Regarding the sluggish second half performance, he remarked: “To be fair, almost everything went wrong, we didn’t have any control.

“We gave the ball away time after time, we didn’t have any periods of dominance even though we scored in the second half.

“So, yes, very disappointed, very frustrated, you can sense that now is not the moment to talk, because we are all too sensitive about it, and you’re not going to get anything positive out of that.

“So, the only thing that we have to do is be close to the players, lift them up, because on Sunday we have a big game coming up.”

Arteta concluded by saying: “We know that those standards are not accepted in the manner that we have to compete and play, and I want to improve.”