Arsenal go fourth on Groundhog Day: is title push doomed?

As Manchester City look forward to the arrival of Pep Guardiola, Manchester United ponder a new manager of their own, Jurgen Klopp grapples with the challenge at Liverpool and Chelsea struggle at the wrong end of the table, at Arsenal, it is, literally, Groundhog Day.

While some people spent 2 February waiting for a rodent to emerge from his burrow in north America, football fans in north London watched the cracks appear in another Arsenal title challenge as they played out 0-0 draw with Southampton at the Emirates.

The Gunners have three points from their last four games and have not scored in three. In that time, Leicester have amassed ten points, Tottenham Hotspur nine and Manchester City eight. Arsenal have now slipped to fourth in the table, a position that has come to epitomise years of frustration and perceived underachievement for them.

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And to make matters worse, Spurs are in third.

"Arsenal go fourth on Groundhog Day. You couldn't make it up," writes Kieran Gill for Mail Online. "Is it going to be one of those seasons again?"

Their next five Premier League fixtures include games against leaders Leicester City at the Emirates, Man United at Old Trafford and Spurs at White Hart Lane. They are matches the Gunners cannot afford to lose.

After Leicester, Arsenal have a relatively easy run-in at home, but will need maximum points, says Gill. "Their away run is no picnic but title contenders have to stand up to be counted."

To add to the sense of trepidation, a Champions League showdown with Barcelona looms. It is the kind of European test that has often acted as the catalyst for a domestic collapse.

"If this is supposed to be Arsenal's best chance of winning the title for years, then somebody should tell the players," says John Cross of the Daily Mirror, who could not help but notice a "smattering of boos [that] greeted the final whistle after a night of frustration".

The Gunners have "slipped almost unnoticed from pacesetters to also-rans", says Matt Hughes in The Times. Although this season may not be the same as the others, he suggests: "Arsenal's most recent title challenges have imploded spectacularly amid the Ides of March, but on this occasion the danger is that they will fall away with a whimper before Valentine's Day."