They’re going to do it, aren’t they? – Back Page Football
Since the days of the great Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal have been somewhat of a sleeping giant. Not since the 2003/04 season have the Gooners been the top of the English football food chain, but, and as a Spurs fan, I truly hate to say this, I think their time has finally come again.
Arsene Wenger’s time at the club ended maybe a little sourly as the fans begged for more success. He maybe saved his legacy a bit with a few FA Cup wins but I think we can see that he didn’t receive the investment that the like of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United got to remain competitive. After Arsene Wenger, there were some dark days for the club. Even with fantastic players still attracted to the North London outfit, it seemed they were always a step behind and even found themselves struggling to get into the top four.
The Unai Emery era started brightly but was brutal in the end, just 18 months after being brought in. Then, the real change came about. Pep Guardiola understudy and trusted assistant manager Mikel Arteta returned to his former club, this time, as the main man in the dug out. After coming from the coaching tree of Pep Guardiola, there were a lot of high hopes and winning an FA Cup in his first year, did a lot to help with the teething problems as he looked to change not only the squad, but the entire culture around the club.
In the five years since that triumph, they have built every year, breathing in new talent and a style of football similar, but not completely the same as City, and have wrestled for top spot with City and Liverpool. They haven’t won anything since that cup final against Chelsea and it seemed that the pressure was solely based on this season to finally bring in the glory that this squad has promised. In 2023, Arsenal held an eight point lead over Manchester City with nine games to go, and managed to let the title slip between their fingers. It seemed the ‘bottlers’ tag had been attached to this squad and there was a pressure on Arteta to get his team over the line, finally.
Arteta has also been criticised in the past for his somewhat irregular management tactics away from the pitch. Employing professional pick pockets to steal his players phones at a pre season dinner is a bit much. He did this to ensure they were always focused and clued in. Not my cup of tea, and he has been slated about it across social media various times. Now, for all the pressure he has been put under and all the abuse he may have sustained, it seems he has finally got it right.
After dazzling the league since his arrival with that Pep-esque style of football, over the last two seasons, he has started to focus his sides attention to other areas. His side used to play their open style brand of football, no matter the opponent and it often seemed that all their attacks had to be perfectly crafted through a series of intricate passes and touches, formations and movement but that has changed. Although his side can still tear any defence apart with their patterns of play and individual excellence, a huge emphasis has been put on their set pieces. They recruited set piece coach Nicolas Jover over four years ago now and he has turned them into a terrifying side to deal with from long throws, free kicks and corner kicks.
Out of their 27 Premier League goals scored this season, 10 of them have come from set pieces (two more from penalties). In the first game of the season, they beat Manchester United at Old Trafford 1-0. The goal came from another routine that exposed Altay Bayindir in the home goal and Riccardo Calafiori was on hand to head home. From there on, a lot were expecting for them to kick on and chase the second and third goal. However, they did exactly the opposite. They sat in, absorbed pressure and walked away with all three points.
Many pundits and fans alike have criticised this style of play, but Arsenal have been incredible at it. Not since the days of Martin Keown and Tony Adams manning their backline have they been so resolute. They can play through teams, like they did to my beloved Tottenham at the weekend, they can win ugly as they did against Fulham and Crystal Palace and they can sit in a grind out results as they did against Manchester United. The perfect formula as it seems thus far.
Over the last couple of years, they have had heavy investment in the squad and Arteta has seemed to move away from the small, extremely technical full backs, no disrespect to the likes of Califiori and Jurien Timber who are both excellent footballers, and have focused on being bigger and stronger than their opponents. Their defensive options include Gabriel and Saliba, arguably two of the top three centre halves in the league, who are now being backed up by two of the most sought after defenders in Europe in Piero Hincapié and Cristhian Mosquera. In the full back positions their first choice for right and left back include Timber and Califiori and then backed up by the highly experienced Ben White and the up and coming youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly.
In the defence, they boast the perfect blend of height, aerial prowess and technical and defensive excellence. They can chop and change to rest players and to adapt to their opponent as they see fit. Their defensive prowess has been evident this season, only conceding 6 goals in 12 games, with only two coming at The Emirates. They are threatening the record set by Chelsea of only conceding 15 goals in a Premier League season.
In midfield, we see the same ability to mix things up and change to beat their opponent. In a midfield contingent of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze, Christian Norgaard and Mikel Merino they have all the ability to shield their backline, break the lines through midfield and feed their attacking players at the top end of the pitch. They can pick a trio to outrun your midfield or a completely separate trio to play intricate passes and have you chasing shadows. To add to this, they have highly exciting youngsters in Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri who are looking to grow and become regulars over the coming years.
In the attacking third, they have some frightening combinations. Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz. The Gooner faithful were crying out for a true number 9 throughout the summer and in summers gone past. Although, Merino has done a stellar job of playing in the main striker position in the past, the former Sporting hit man Gyokeres was someone who could finally put away chances that were constantly being created over the past season or two. Although he may not have scored as many have hoped so far, he has chipped in with four goals in the league and another two in the Champions League before picking up an injury. He is the perfect man to lead the line and if he can chip in with 15 to 20 league goals, there is nothing stopping Arsenal from finally winning the league. Saka and Martinelli will do what they do and consistently provide goals, assists and chances while Trossard, Madueke, Jesus, Havertz will come in and ensure that they have several different ways of setting up and hurting teams.
Of course there are injuries throughout the squad this season, but with Gabriel, Odegaard, Jesus and Havertz all unavailable they were still able to dismantle Spurs with ease and probably should have scored more than four goals. The strength and depth throughout the squad is incredible and with everybody fit, it is hard to find a better squad. They are robust in defence, technical and powerful in midfield and skillful and ruthless up front. Whether they are playing through you or peppering your box with corners they always carry a threat and it’s hard to see them losing the lead they have at the top of the table already.
With would be challengers Liverpool suffering an awful hangover from last year’s triumph and perennial title challengers Manchester City still not rediscovering their form from their last table topping season in 2022/23, it seems set up for Arsenal to run away with things. Chelsea currently sit second in the table but I feel that they’re young squad is not yet ready to challenge for top spot and still sit a few more seasons and a few more signings away from looking really likely to run out winners. Apart from that, sides like United, Spurs, Villa, Newcastle and Bournemouth have the ability to challenge for top four but that’s probably as good as they can hope for in this title race.
Although the bottler tag has been hung over their head, I fear that may have to be dismissed after this season, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think Lego head may have found the perfect formula to bring the title back to the red side of North London.
