58% Hope. 42% Belief.
From the final 15 minutes, the mission changed for Arsenal. In the 2022/23 season, The Gunners have had to respond to going behind, being pegged back, and have almost always needed to do something up front as the game progressed, if they’ve ever needed to do something at all as the game progressed. This time, however, as they led Liverpool – a team they hadn’t beaten in over two years – they had to hold on.
Arsenal have had a few tests so far this season, many of which had the looks of scenarios in which they fall short in the past. A game they dominated but got sucker punched. Conceding via a needless mistake and never finding an answer. Just the case of Arsenal happening. But so far, Arsenal haven’t happened… or rather, Arsenal have been happening… to other teams. The latest test was spending the final 15 minutes and a bit seeing out a game. Protecting what they had against a side that had only lost once in the league in 2022, and had lost just six of their last 83 matches. Another test Arsenal passed, with an immense sense of conviction.
48% Hope. 52% Belief.
There’s a sense of something brewing at the Emirates this season. A sense of patience finally paying off and the rewards of setting together a young and growing side finally coming to fruition.
It’s not just that Arsenal beat Liverpool. Not just that they’ve scored back-to-back wins over north London rivals Tottenham and Jurgen Klopp’s team. It’s that they’ve done so with incredibly reassuring conviction. It’s that they’ve laid siege against both defences, seen their persistence pay off, and seen out the game. That they’ve won both games with the sense of deserving them, and evidence that they should have won by more. They’ve gone up against two of the supposed top-three managers in the Premier League right now, and bagged six points, and a lot of assurance in the process.
And the belief around the Emirates is growing in that regard as well. The noise level rises as Arsenal set to work against a defence and look to carve them open. The crowd gets onside as the Gunners up the ante. The atmosphere continues to radiate positivity. It’s not quite the smug confidence that something will happen with Arsenal. Rather, it’s the ever-growing belief that something is very likely to.
40% Hope. 60% Belief.
Perhaps the most telling situation of the game was when Bukayo Saka stepped up to take the penalty. There was an air of tension around the ground as he came face-to-face with Alisson. But it felt like the good kind of tension. Not a sense of defeatism, or a wariness that this would go wrong because it usually does. It’s the kind of tension that comes with winning. The kind that accompanies hope and expectations. It’s probably the kind of nerves Arsenal are happy to feel again. Arsenal were doing to Liverpool what Liverpool were known to do to others. Have their backs against the wall. Come at them with relentless ferocity that they have no choice but to give in.
For Mikel Arteta and his squad, it looks like all the pieces matter. A rejuvenated Granit Xhaka who plays as something of a Mezzala-cum-Roaming-Playmaker-moonlighting-as-a-False-Left-Back. An energetic Gabriele Martinelli whose direct running makes him an attacking threat, outlet, and a source of protecting the ball. The hardworking Gabriel Jesus who roams from the centre-forward role, and is a pressing nightmare for the opposition. The assured William Saliba who looks like he’s been playing for Arsenal for five years instead of one. All that, and a manager in Arteta who can get feisty on the touchline, and provide a kind of nastiness that can give your players and fans an extra layer as the game goes on.
32% Hope. 68% Belief.
Arsenal are looking up. Top of the table with eight wins from nine games. 23 goals scored this season, while it took them almost half of the league season to get that many last term. Seemingly disruptive figures have been removed from the dressing room, and Arteta looks vindicated in his decision to do away with certain players.
Most telling, the hope that started to creep into the stadium last season is graduating into belief. Arsenal fans came into the 2021/22 campaign aiming to start feeling something again. A season later, the feelgood factor is enveloping the atmosphere in the red half of North London.
There will be questions to come. The defence hasn’t kept a clean sheet at home all season. Squad depth still looks to be an issue. And will the pressure get too much if it looks like an assault on the title could be possible?
But for the first time in a while, questions don’t seem to faze Arsenal, and everyone involved is willing to find out the answers.
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