The 5 Premier League titles Arsenal SHOULD have won under Arsene Wenger

Man U 3 Arsenal 2 Match Analysis

Despite great hopes at the start of the season, Arsenal"s campaign looks to have taken a depressingly familiar turn in the last couple of weeks.

After their 2-0 home defeat to Barcelona, The Gunners are practically knocked out of the Champions League at the Round of 16 - again.

Two consecutive defeats to Manchester United and Swansea later, and it looks like they may well have blown their Premier League title tilt with ten games to go - again.

If this all sounds a bit "Groundhog Day", well, that"s because it is. Especially when it comes to blowing their title chances, Arsenal fans have seen it all before.

In fact, during Arsene Wenger"s long tenure at the club, there have been several seasons in which the team have narrowly missed out on the league title from a great position. If they do slip up once more this campaign, letting Leicester or Spurs win the league with all the pre-season favourites flagging, it"ll be remembered as the ultimate opportunity missed.

Arsenal"s last few results have been calamitous

Still, which other seasons have seen Wenger"s sides miss out when (arguably) they should have won the league?

In descending order of disastrousness...

Arsenal finish 3rd, 2007/08

This was the season.

With the post-Emirates austerity era starting to bite, Wenger"s late noughties side had one shot at the league title - the 2007/08 campaign.

For some time, they looked sure to win it. Unbeaten in their first 15 games, they spent the majority of the season between mid September and early March at the top of the table. They were undefeated at home for the entire season.

Still, still they blew it.

The defining moment came in a late-season draw with soon-to-be relegated Birmingham, a result which let eventual winners Manchester United take the initiative in the league. Then Arsenal captain William Gallas had an iconic meltdown, conceding a penalty for Birmingham to equalise and then refusing to leave the pitch at the final whistle.

Arsenal slumped. United and Chelsea pulled away. The Gunners ended the season on 83 points, four behind Alex Ferguson"s side in 1st place.

Arsenal finish 4th, 2013/14

It"s easy to forget that Arsenal spent 128 days at the top of the table this season.

Despite being exposed in a 6-3 defeat to Man City in December, Wenger"s men found consistency in the winter months and steadily climbed to the top of the league. It was all going so well.

Then they went to Anfield and got thumped 5-1. What followed was truly, truly horrifying.

The dream of a first league title since 2004 went belly up with further defeats against Stoke and Everton and a humiliating 6-0 drubbing away to Chelsea. Arsenal ended the season in 4th, seven points off top spot.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Arsenal finish 2nd, 1998/99

This was the first chance that Arsenal blew under Wenger, and it was a big one.

Though they were up against perhaps the best Manchester United side the Premier League has ever seen, Arsenal sneaked into top spot in the run in. They only had to beat Leeds United and Aston Villa in their last two games, and they were champions once more.

Unfortunately, a 1-0 defeat to Leeds saw United scrape the league by one point. That was despite taking a draw and a loss from their games with Arsenal.

United went on to win the treble. Wenger must have been livid.

Arsenal finish 2nd, 2000/01

Some might say this one is a bit harsh, but we stick by it.

Though Arsenal finished 10 points behind United in the end (and got thumped 6-1 at Old Trafford in February: see picture above), they recorded some seriously silly results over the course of the season.

Despite getting the better of their major rivals on regular occasion, they lost to Sunderland, Everton, Leeds, Charlton and Southampton away.

If only they could have improved on their travels, they"d have been well ahead of United come May.

Arsenal finish 2nd, 2002/03

Another contentious one here but, again, we think it deserves inclusion.

Arsenal went top of the league with a famous 3-0 victory against Spurs in mid November and stayed there until early April. Unfortunately, two needless draws with Aston Villa and Bolton (plus a 3-2 home loss to Leeds) saw United claim the title by a comfortable 5 points.

b****y United.

So there we have it - those are the season in which Arsenal could have topped the league, but slipped up in spectacular fashion.

Though 2007/08 and 2013/14 stick out as particularly bad misses, they all count.

Will 2015/16 go down as yet another squandered opportunity?

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Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/5-premier-league-titles-arsenal-7490006