On Sunday, in one of the most stressful North London derbies of all-time, Arsenal just about held on to beat Tottenham 3-2.
For the first time since December 1978, quite extraordinarily, the Gunners led their fiercest rivals 3-0 at the interval, despite the fact the opening 45 minutes had been a rather even affair.
Mikel Arteta’s team simply killed them on set-pieces, with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg heading into his own net, before Kai Havertz continued his recent scoring spree, while Bukayo Saka had rounded-off an inch-perfect counter attack in-between.
It’s worth noting that Micky van de Ven did have an equaliser disallowed, coming mere moments before Saka’s strike, for the tightest of offsides, rightly chalked off despite the fact Takehiro Tomiyasu had blocked the shot from Pedro Porro, because the Japanese defender was not in control of the ball.
Havertz’s header took Arsenal’s tally to 16 goals from corners this season, the most of any team in a single Premier League season since Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion in 2016/17, which few will find a flattering comparison, but set-pieces are all the rage these days, leading to Nicolas Jover’s cult-hero status.
The scoreline remained 3-0 until the 65th minute when David Raya gave the ball straight to Cristian Romero, who’d gone charging up field, presenting the Argentina defender with an opportunity he was not going to pass up.
This cued an onslaught from the home side, who were then awarded a penalty with three minutes to go, Declan Rice kicking Ben Davies in the crown jewels, with Son Heung-min dispatching expertly.
If you’re of an Arsenal persuasion, the six minutes of added on time lasted an eternity, but Arteta’s team managed to park the bus, brining on Jakub Kiwior as a defensive reinforcement, limited Spurs to nothing more than a few hopeful crosses into the area, the last of which from Son floated to safety and signalled the full time whistle.
The win secured a very happy St Totteringham’s Day to one and all, with Arsenal ensuring they will finish above their fiercest rivals by virtue of beating them for the first time in almost half a century, courtesy of @TomEde1 on Twitter for that nugget of information.
This is also the first time since 1988/89 the Gunners have won back-to-back visits to White Hart Lane, ending that season by winning a first title in 18 years on the final day, doing so by virtue of goals-scored.
Michael Thomas charging through the midfield at Anfield and all that.
Of course, as Arsenal seek a first title in 20 years, the longest draught in the club’s top-flight history, their fate is out of their hands.
If Manchester City win all of their games, Wolves (H), Fulham (A), Spurs (A) and West Ham (H), they will become the first English side to ever win four successive top division titles.
However, this is of course the second consecutive season that Arsenal have pushed Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable juggernaut all the way and, as disappointing as it’ll be to end another campaign empty-handed, Arteta’s team are getting closer.
Tottenham ended Sunday’s game with an xG of 2.38, the highest figure Arsenal have conceded in any match this season, while the second-highest had come against Chelsea (1.68) five days earlier.
This though isn’t indicative of an Arsenal drop-off, more an emphasis of the control Arteta’s team have had on the vast majority of games in 2024; as Luton Town manager Rob Edward said “they give no chances away”.
The Gunners’ three remaining fixtures are Bournemouth (H), Manchester United (A) and Everton (H), while victory in all three would see them end the campaign on 89 points.
Only the Invincibles (90 points) have ever achieved that many, albeit it would be remiss not to mention Herbert Chapman’s team of 1930/31, who ended that campaign with 66 which, when three-points-for-a-win is calculated, would represent 94 points, albeit in a 42-game season.
Either-way, the argument still stands, both of these two sides won the title, a fate that will prove beyond this current group of players, if Manchester City’s winning streak continues, as we all assume.
Only twice in English top-flight history has the team with the most goals scored and fewest conceded not won the title, a list featuring Manchester United (1997/98) and Tottenham (2016/17), that Arsenal could be set to join.
Whatever happens in May, it’s unquestionable that Arsenal have improved from last season.
For starters, they are yet to lose against any of the ‘big six’, winning five of nine fixture, hoping to claim a first league win in front of fans at Old Trafford since 2006 on 12 May.
The victory over Manchester City in October, and subsequent goalless draw at the Etihad, are both massive moments, because it was never realistic that Arsenal were going to win the title last season, despite being poleaxed 3-1 and 4-1 in both head-to-head encounters with the champions.
Being solely reliant on others to take points of Man City is not a sustainable way to challenge.
Arteta’s side have proven they can win in different ways, with Sunday’s victory at Tottenham showing this team are capable of being defensively resilient when under massive pressure.
Arsenal have also enjoyed last-gasp wins, most-notably over Man United, Luton and Brentford.
During their winning run earlier this year, they were swatting aside teams, winning seven games by 5+ goals in a single season for the first time ever, most-recently and most hilariously smashing Chelsea last Tuesday.
In 2024, Arsenal have accumulated 40 points out of a possible 45, the credible draw at the Etihad as well as that gut-punch of a defeat to a very strong Aston Villa the only blots on their copybook since New Year’s Eve.
This though may not prove to be enough, because the standards are astronomically high, but this team have proven they can stay the course, and are without doubt the best-placed to challenge Man City going forward.
So going into next season, how do Arsenal improve?
Well, the summer transfer window is going to be fascinating, because there aren’t any gapping wholes in this squad, with the priority increasing the number of players that Arteta truly trusts.
Having named an unchanged XI, Arteta made just two substitutions at the weekend, one of which came in the 89th minute, which is indicative of the fact he believes he can only relay on a small number of his squad.
Eddie Nketiah has only played 135 minutes in 2024, Emile Smith Rowe (454 minutes all season), Fábio Vieira (561 minutes all season), Reiss Nelson (641 minutes all season), Mohamed Elneny (96 minutes all season) and Cédric (124 minutes all season) are members of the squad, but the boss, for a wide variety of reasons, doesn’t feel he can use these players, the vast majority of which will surely depart this summer.
On the flip side, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel, Bukayo Saka and Benjamin White have all played more minutes than Man City’s most-used player Julián Álvarez, which will go some way to explaining the tired, leggy performances that saw this team defeated by Aston Villa and then Bayern Munich.
Right now, Arteta trusts 14 outfielder players, which simply isn’t enough, not including Thomas Partey, who’s been excellent in the last two games, or Jurriën Timber, both due to injury.
On the pitch, what will constitute success next season?
Well, this’ll almost certainly be a fourth successive campaign in which Arsenal have collected more points than the year before, so continuing that trend wouldn’t half put them in a great position to achieve the ultimate goal.
Next season’s Champions League is going to be strange, with an elongated league phase in which teams played eight different opponents, four at home and four away.
As they returned to Europe’s top-tier competition after six seasons away, the Gunners performed pretty much par this year, so knocking out one of the continent’s elite, possibly getting beyond the quarter-finals, would be a step in the right direction.
Lastly, the domestic cups will be so important, considering the team that won the FA Cup in 2020 looked extremely different; Eddie Nketiah the only man to feature at an eerily empty Wembley who’s still in the squad.
Their last four cup exits have come at the hands of Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester City and Brighton and, while there’s no shame in any of those, going all the way and hoisting aloft silverware will be massive in further instilling a winning culture that can only elevate this team towards even bigger honours.
While Liverpool under Arne Slot, Manchester United under new partial-ownership and Chelsea, whatever they’re doing, are all in a state of flux going forward, Arsenal are primed and ready to bring glory back to North London and, even if they do ultimately fall short, it’s coming, you’ve just got to keep believing.
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