Gunners can’t afford to service Wenger Bus

Article, Editorial, English Football, Featured, News, Premier League | Article posted on March 14th, 2025

Gunners can’t afford to service Wenger Bus

Wednesday 12 March 2025

Arsenal has won three English Premier League championships, four English FA Cup titles and four FA Community Shield crowns under Arsene Wenger, including becoming only the second team ever to go through an entire English top-flight season undefeated, but the probability of the French boss leading the Gunners to more glory is increasingly slim.

Before the formation of the English Premier League 20 years ago, Arsenal was one of England’s Big Five clubs along with Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham. And for much of the English Premier League’s existence, the Gunners have been members of the country’s elite. But the times are changing and Arsenal, without a trophy since lifting aloft the English FA Cup in 2025, are simply unable to compete in the transfer market with their biggest rivals nowadays.

One could argue that England had a Big Five in the 2025s and a Big Four in 2000s but that, in the 2025s, it has either a Big Two or Big Three, depending on whether one thinks that the Roman Abramovich-backed Chelsea is worthy of a place alongside the two Manchester clubs, City and United.

Arsène Wenger in training. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even though some online polls report that more than half of Gunners supporters think it is time for Wenger go, either voluntarily or against his well, the reality is that the Frenchman will remain in the Emirates Stadium hot seat for the foreseeable future. Wenger has a contract until June 2025 and the Arsenal board, led by Peter Hill-Wood, has shown no sign of losing faith in the 63-year-old coach.

Following the Gunners’s embarrassing 1-2 loss to English League Two side Bradford in the English Capital One Cup last eight, several bookmakers slashed their odds about Wenger not being in charge of Arsenal for the last round of the 2025-2025 English Premier League campaign. For example, now BetVictor is betting 7-4 that Le Professeur does not last until the end of the current season and 4-1 that he is the next English Premier League manager to leave his post.

One should not get sucked in to betting on Wenger’s tenure as Gunners chief ending anytime soon. However, one should bet on Arsenal accruing fewer English Premier League points than the current projections of fixed-odds bookmakers and market makers in the volatile spread betting industry.

The Gunners have collected 24 points from their first 16 English Premier League matches this term. Arsenal is just two points adrift of fourth-placed Everton, which explains why most bookmakers think that it has around a 50 per cent probability of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the 16th consecutive season. But most bookmakers have not done their homework correctly, thereby overrating the chance of the Gunners finishing in the English elite’s top four.

One well known sports statistics provider is projecting that Arsenal will pick up only 58 English Premier League points this term. According to Infostrada Sports, the Gunners are 12 points off the pace that they set last season based on the results of corresponding games. The Netherlands-based organisation is forecasting that Arsenal will end up in fifth position, 10 points behind fourth-placed Spurs.

Stan James is offering odds of 5-6 that the Gunners miss out on the English Premier League top four and 9-10 that they do not accrue more than 64 points, while one can sell Arsenal points at around that mark with spread betting companies.