Will Arsenal Win The League??

Mikel Arteta’s men have been nothing short of exceptional this season. Easy on the eye, defensively astute and high goal scoring numbers. Players like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Matin Ødegaard have taken Arsenal from top four contenders to title challengers. The gunners are five points clear of their nearest challengers in Manchester City but can they actually do it and defy expectations form the start of the season?

The biggest difference between the top two is that Arsenal’s goals come from all over the park with the three previously mentioned players (Saka, Matinelli and Ødegaard) all on 10 plus goals while City have the outrageous 28 goals of Erling Haaland, the next top scorer is Phil Foden on nine then it’s Julien Alvarez on five. So, its clear City are filing all their chances to Haaland whereas with Arsenal, if Saka is having an off day, they have other players who can find the back of the net. Now Gabriel Jesus is back from injury there is another threat. Whilst his goalscoring numbers aren’t what you’d expect his team high shots per 90 of 3.7 and team high dribbles per 90 of 2.2 shows he has some amount of threat to teams, and he still has impacts on games if he’s not goal scoring. At this point last season Arsenal had scored 43 goals, they are now on 62 heading down the final stretch of the campaign.

Not only are they putting the ball in the net more, they are keeping it out the other end more as well. With William Saliba being a stalwart at the back for Arteta’s men and moving Ben white from centre half to right back has made them more solid and gives them a more physical presence in the backline compared to Tomiyasu. Recently however, the backline has started to crumble with them conceding eight goals in their last seven games in all competitions conceding two goals to both Aston villa and Bournemouth but there’s a positive you can take from both those games, they won.

The question mark that is surrounding Arsenal throughout the season is ‘do they have the bottle?’ And every question they have been asked, they answered. Going 2-0 down to Bournemouth and winning with a last-minute winner with the emirates. Going 1-0 down then 2-1 down against Aston Villa and still winning with a last minute winner. The red half of North London have got the most points from losing positions in the league this season with 15 and considering they appeared to ‘bottle’ top 4 last season, it’s clear to see that the mentality of the team has improved massively. Following their set back of defeat to title rivals Manchester City and a shock loss away to Everton, they managed to fight back and claw that gap back and keep it to the five points.

Even going 2-0 down to Bournemouth, there was still optimism amongst fans and neutrals that the Gunners were going to comeback whereas previous seasons, Arsenal maybe could have crumbled but didn’t and got a crucial three points. The intangibles of football such as fight, heart, spirit are clear to see that they are on show for all to see and it has moved from the pitch to the stands.

The atmosphere at the emirates in previous years has been questioned by rival fans, with it often been nicknamed ‘a library’. No one can say that this season. The ‘clock end’ of the stadium, singing in unison for 90 minutes and anyone who’s watched a game or been to a game at emirates this season can agree, the atmosphere has been second to none. And that was emphasised by the scenes in the ground when the previously mentioned last minute winner against Bournemouth hit the net. The reactions from the players, crowd and dugout shows how much that meant and how much it could mean towards the end of the season if they end up winning the league.

The crowd feed off the players as much as the players feed off the crowd and its clear to see they are feeding off each other and are getting results that could’ve seen them win their first league title since the Invincibles in 2003/04.

Every question that’s been asked of them they have answered with aplomb. And the biggest question now is can they hold on? And at the moment it doesn’t look like they are going to drop points. Every passing week they just keep winning and that means one less week for City to close the gap. For Arsenal to be caught, they need to lose to city and drop points in another game, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen they still need to play Liverpool away and that’s never a tough game never mind how out for form Jurgen Klopp’s side are Manchester United found that out the hard way. They still need to go to Newcastle and host Chelsea, but I don’t see Arsenal dropping points, they have become reliable in winning games and that takes some amount of doing.