Arsenal might hold a four-point gap over second place after matchday nine, and with lingering misgivings about Bournemouth’s stamina for a title race, the mood at the Emirates has eased. The Cherries have occupied a position in the table that few imagined possible, and it is a feeling that has translated into the latest odds to win the title with Mikel Arteta’s men the overwhelming favourites.
Arteta’s Gunners Odds-On
One look at the odd to win Premier League 2025/26 and you’ll get a better feeling for the prevailing mood around the world of football, as Arsenal sit at just 2/5 to win their first title since 2004.
As such, it isn’t a surprise that the majority of the football online bets are being placed on the Gunners in the outright market.
However, anyone who thinks this will be plain sailing until spring is in for a dose of jarring reality. Sooner or later, there are bound to be moments when the roof of your mouth dries, you fall into despair, and your fingers tingle as the Gunners go in search of a goal that will turn one point into three or a loss into a crucial draw.
In those moments, when low, stubborn blocks are negating creativity, Arsenal will call on Declan Rice to deliver from set pieces. The stats say he should come good in Arsenal’s hour of need.
The Accidental Weapon
When Arsenal signed Rice from West Ham in 2023, they expected a midfield anchor, a leader who could control games and bring composure by putting his foot on the ball. What they discovered by chance was the best set-piece taker in England. For the first six months of his Arsenal career, Rice hardly took a corner or free-kick. Instead, he was asked to make a nuisance of himself in the box, winning headers and duels over the pinballing second balls. That changed during a training camp in Dubai when Arteta’s staff saw the whip and power he could generate from a standing start.
Since the start of 2024, Rice has created ten goals from set pieces in the Premier League, which is impressive in itself. But when you consider that it is double the output of any other player in England’s top flight, you begin to realise just how reliable he has become. It is also on the continent where no one can match his output. Only two players in Europe’s major five leagues have managed eight. The numbers underline how effective he has been in a role that was never part of the original plan.
Arsenal’s Late-Season Edge
What makes Rice stand out is the priceless combination of power and precision. He often only takes corners from the left flank, leaving others to handle the right, but his conversion rate is far higher. His delivery stays flat and fast, making it almost impossible to defend.
7 – No player has created more big chances in the Premier League in 2025 than Declan Rice (7). Inventive. pic.twitter.com/5vXuF658Wl
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 28, 2025
As winter sets in and the margins tighten, Arsenal’s greatest advantage might come not from open play but from Rice’s right foot. A single corner, one perfectly whipped delivery, could end up defining their season and deciding whether Arsenal finally bring the Premier League trophy back to north London.
