Where can we finish 2026 final

Where can we finish 2026? The final 8

Everton (H) Bournemouth (H) Man City (A) Newcastle (H) Fulham (H) West Ham (A) Burnley (H) Palace (A)

I once again have Dave Hardy by my side as we find a way to look into the future for what could be a great season. Dave Hardy’s predictions are in blue.

So, what can we say for certain? If we win all we will get 91 points, our best ever. Better than the 90 of the Invincibles. Also if we do that we will win with a guaranteed 2 matches to spare but probably more like three. Which makes winning our last 3 probably harder as we might be on holiday in our mind. Will Arteta be desperate, though, if beating the Invincibles is possible, to win all just as Wenger pushed his guys not to get beat long after the title was won? I think yes, and Gabriel Heinze will be screaming at everyone to treat every match as critical, as well. I think he has added a killer mentality to Arsenal which Arteta, as his strong buddy, regards as that extra push to get us over every line.

Has this proven winner Gabriel Heinze been brought in to get us over the line?

So can we win all 8? Everton at home we will know very soon. We have a good record against them and Arteta knows David Moyes inside out. I feel 2-1 will be the scoreline but a bit easier than that score indicates. Dave Hardy says we start this final marathon with Arteta's former team. Even with Moyes at the touchline, they've been quite inconsistent, plus we do have quite a decent record against them at home, so I reckon we'll keep it that way. 3-1 for Dave and 70 points for both.

So 70 points which I feel will get us Champions League and our first Wenger trophy of the season.

Buddy number one David Moyes does us a favour

I don’t know whether it is strange or not but probably the three managers that Arteta is closest to are our next three. The aforementioned David Moyes who Arteta was captain for at Everton, Andoni Iraola was alongside him as a youth footballer in the Basque country and they have remained close ever since, and of course, the famous Pep Guardiola with which he is strongly entwined. An advantage or disadvantage? We will find out soon enough.

Bournemouth, again at home, is surely one we cannot afford to lose. They have only 9 wins all season but a massive 13 draws, by far the highest of any team. A potential banana skin, then? A draw could put City a potential 2 points behind us and reawaken their hopes and make us nervous. I would take a 1-0 to make George Graham happy.

Buddy number two Iraola also does us a favour

After the international break, and probably quarter finals in the FA Cup and the Champions League, we host Bournemouth. Last season they've managed to turn the game around and do the double on us, but this season their form is a bit different, so I'll go with a steady 2:0 win here.

73 points each

And then the biggie, the match of the season, A Man City away which has been inconsistent for two seasons in a row. Still, at home they have only lost once all season to Liverpool and a draw may well be the best we get. I would take 2-2 and keep our title hopes strong.

Something of a favour from last buddy Pep

Probably the big one for this season. Two years ago we were in pretty much the same situation, and we've thought that a point here will be a good result. It almost was, but that damn Aston Villa had different plans for us. Back to the main point, I still don't think that we can go and win every single game all the way to the end, but I have a sense that the Carabao final against City, will be a vital turning point for us.

74 points each

Newcastle at home and they regularly give us hard matches. Eddie Howe packs the defence and uses the speed of his forwards to to get breakaways. If he gets lucky he could win. But his away from is dreadful, they are way behind us on points, and there can be no excuses, we must win. I say 3-0 as they have an uncharacteristic bad day against us.

After City, we've got another bout with Newcastle. Last season a Declan Rice belter was enough to seal us the final 3 points of the season, so I reckon that we can beat them once more. Plus historically, they have just a single league win over us at the N5 ever since we moved there.

77 points each

We then head into 3 out of 4 London derbies the first of which is against Fulham at home, which is a sort of Arsenal lite with several ex players there. They have been good at home, and taken some nice scalps and Marco Silva must look on with envy at another young manager who has far bigger resources than he has. They are not so good away but I feel that this could be a draw and a wobble and 2-2.

A London Derby is always a 50/50 game, and Fulham are quite a decent team this season, even though they are far off the European places. At this point with only 3 games left after that (and with the possibility of City's game in hand being played), this game comes as the first match point in our quest for the title. Dave goes 2-0 to us.

78 points for me and 80 points for Dave

West Ham away next but here I feel more confident. They are worse at home than away and I think a nice win here at 4-1 puts us back on track.

Another London Derby, with a huge stake for both teams. On one side we have the Hammers who are fighting to stay in the Premier League and on the other are the mighty Arsenal cruising on the way for a first league title since 2004. Over the past two seasons, The London Stadium has been a very generous place for us, as we scored 11 times in those two games. So I think that it'll be another free scoring game, and another 3 points to The Arsenal. 3-1 to Arsenal

81 points for me and 83 points for Dave

Burnley at home in our final home match and I just can’t see them getting anything from us. I think they will finish bottom as Wolves will put in a great fight to stay up. I feel 3-0 will give us 84 points. That may even give us the title and cue huge celebrations at the Emirates.

The last home game of the season, could potentially mean that we can celebrate the first league title at the Emirates. By the time this game comes, Burnley would most likely be relegated with nothing else but their honour to play for. So I expect a fabulous performance from us, and a rampant win before we can drown in beers and tears of joy. 4-0 for Dave

84 points for me and 86 for Dave

And finally Palace away and presumably Oliver Glasner’s last match. They have had nothing much to play for, for a lot of this season and we also may have nothing to play for but I think if we get the first goal we will win. I say 2-1 to us and we win the title with 87 points

Will Glasner be dreaming of this team by then?

For the final matchday of the 2025/26 season, we have a London Derby with Palace. I can only hope that by that time everything will be decided, as I'm not ready for a repeat of the 23/24 season and that Everton game at the end. Since Ebe Eze won us the 3 points at the Emirates, it would be written in the stars for him to do it once more at his old ground.

Also 2-1 for Dave to us, so that leaves us 87 points for me and 89 points for Dave.

Us bottlers will enjoy our beers

We win the league and the bottlers all lose. 4 teams have been better than us since the new century, Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool but somehow we are the only ones called bottlers. We will enjoy all our bottles and our draughts and our cans. Up the Arsenal!