Charles Jackson
LONDON – They came in faith, and although the final day may have tested them, they left with greater certainty than they arrived. That, as Mikel Arteta explained, is the secret sauce around here.
“All this is happening because you started to believe,” he said at the Emirates Stadium in the painful afterglow of the defunct title dream. That belief is a fragile asset, especially against an opponent of Manchester City’s power. The 90 minutes Arsenal fans watched would be enough to test anyone’s conviction: the agonizing wait for their own winning goal, the false dawn of West Ham’s second goal that never came.
And yet this is a club of fanatics. A fan base too. At halftime the title was further out of reach than it had been earlier in the day, but they still danced in celebration of Kai Havertz, still wore their Tomas Soucek shirts and encouraged their team to beat no. 28th of the season, goal no. 91. These are numbers to convince you that this faith is not blind.
True believers appear to be growing in number. On Sunday morning, you could hardly move more than a meter anywhere in the capital (well, maybe not on the N17) without seeing a red shirt. Hundreds must have packed the pubs and restaurants along Holloway Road knowing they wouldn’t be able to get tickets. They just wanted to be there when the time came.
Even though they knew they shouldn’t, even though many said otherwise, they came to the capital more with faith than hope. You could say, the minute the news broke of Phil Foden’s immediate debut at the Etihad. It wasn’t long before thunder at the Etihad brought clouds to north London. A collective gulp you could almost hear. A chilling silence that infected those in red.
However, there was a more immediate issue to resolve. Jordan Pickford was in international tournament mode a few weeks earlier, with the England No.1 denying Gabriel Martinelli with a firm glove moments after his instinctive elbow had repelled a Seamus Coleman deflection. James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite made crucial tackles when opportunities arose for Arsenal.
Everton’s attacks troubled Arsenal in the same way that Sean Dyche’s teams do so well. When fitness allows, Dominic Calvert-Lewin can be difficult even for Gabriel and William Saliba, breaking the post in half and making a smart save from David Raya in the second. Perhaps it didn’t help Arsenal’s defenders that their midfield shield appeared to have lost what little energy it had. Ben White should have done more to deal with Everton’s explosion further up the pitch, but Thomas Partey could only get close enough to Dwight McNeil to bring him down.
When Idrissa Gana Gueye’s free-kick deflected mischievously off the head of Declan Rice, the hero of so many hours on the way to the last, the Emirates were swallowed up by the feeling that this would be the cruelest of endings. Then, in an instant, hope was renewed. Takehiro Tomiyasu’s equalizer mixed in with news of Mohamed Kudus dragging West Ham back into contention at the Etihad. Perhaps this news arrived very staggered. Whatever the explanation, there was a moment when some in the crowd sincerely believed the Irons had gotten another one.
It would not be the last false dawn of the afternoon. For 44 minutes, Arsenal worked hard against an Everton defense that blocked more shots than Victor Wembanyama. Then came the shouts from the crowd: “It’s 3-2”. Arsenal couldn’t just call it a day knowing a City win was inevitable. Skeptics will rightly complain about the VAR experience for matchday fans, but at least the brief delay while Michael Oliver checked Gabriel Jesus’ handball gave the Emirates time to learn of an intervention at Stockley Park further north. Tomas Soucek, the childhood Gooner who grew up idolizing Tomas Rosicky, may have gotten a little carried away with his wrist shot.
Arsenal never got close enough on Sunday to the club whose fourth successive title could be built on 115 charges of breaching Premier League rules, charges that City dispute. The enormity of what they faced seemed to hit their players like an anvil at the final whistle. Kai Havertz was in tears. Oleksandr Zinchenko was on the ground. Gabriel Jesus crouched over him, trying to console one of the many teammates who were completely devastated, even after yet another Arsenal victory. These two former champions have learned rather cruelly over the last two years what it was like for those behind them. For a moment, it seemed that doing so much – reaching the 89-point mark that City had set for themselves last season, scoring more, conceding less, staying in the champion race until 2024 – in vain could break players and perhaps even supporters. .
So you discovered how Arteta “shaked the tree” with this club in the first place, how he pulled himself out of what seemed like a terminal spiral in the winter of 2020 and made Arsenal a more formidable force 12 months after supposedly “trafficing” the title.
“All this is happening because you started to believe,” he told the Emirati congregation. “You started to be patient, you started to understand what we were trying to do and all the credit goes to these incredible players and the staff who are unbelievable.
“I think now is the time to pause, think, reflect and please, keep pushing, keep inspiring this team. Don’t be satisfied because we want much more than that and we will achieve it.”
You couldn’t help but buy what he was selling. After all, Pep Guardiola’s assistant knows the standards that have kept Manchester City at the top for the fourth consecutive year, seventh in eight years, better than most. When he talks about “all the performance figures are at the highest level we’ve ever seen”, he may just be offering a useful reminder that Arsenal have become the first team since the first year of the Guardiola project to record a goal difference better expected than City.
“I was there when we scored 100 points,” Arteta said. “I know what it takes. This is the level. Nobody needs to explain this to me, I’ve been there for four years, every day. I know what we have to do if we want to achieve this.”
Despite all this knowledge of what City can be, Arteta is convinced Arsenal can be better. “We’re going to win. When? I don’t know, but if we keep beating and being so close, in the end it will happen.”
If days like today can’t shake that conviction, nothing will.
