ARSENAL RIDE THE LUCK TRAIN TO TOP 4 – WHAT DID WE LEARN?

If you are coming here thinking I’m going to gloss over the luck today, you’d be wrong.

We were lucky.

Woodwork. Marginal offsides. Missed penalties. A worldie save. A blatant handball.

That second half was built for a United comeback.

Do I give a f*ck? Absolutely not. Arsenal haven’t rode their luck against a big team all year, we haven’t had VAR work in our favor, nothing has gone for us all season. That changed today.

Make no mistake, that was a pretty poor performance from Arsenal. When people say age doesn’t matter, watch the match back, those kids were wrecked by nerves.

Defensively, we were shambolic at times. Gabriel and Ben White clearly had Ronaldo posters on their wall as kids, they were petrified of a man 12 years their senior. Cedric was getting roasted all game by Sancho, he had no confidence moving the ball forward, and he struggled. Nuno Tavares was a mess, his decision-making was poor all game, and he had some real donut moments despite the great goal. Aaron Ramsdale read too much into his good press and now he’s suffering, because he’s just not the same guy he was 4 months ago.

That’s mostly down to inexperience.

But you know what? They did enough. They will learn so much from being under siege playing below par.

Attack-wise, I thought we were really sharp. League One Eddie has transformed our attack, he runs the lines, he’s a nuisance, and he, you know, does striker things like shoot. Does anyone doubt he’s Premier League levels? They don’t. I hope we sign him to a new deal.

Our two best players were Big Mo and Granit Xhaka. They were sensational for the second time in a week. Elneny just does the simple things, he reads play well, breaks it up, then plays the simple pass with an 88% success rate. Granit was a monster, the man bleeds Arsenal even though we don’t credit that reality, his pass completion rate was 96%, and that goal was fucking outrageous. The kisses he blew to the fans felt very, very special.

Defensively though, we were a bit of a car crash, we let Ronaldo connect their wingers in the same way Lacazette has done for us during the dry times. You know United are in trouble when they can’t even ride a narrative. Ronaldo is dealing with an extreme mental toll, he comes out and scores from nothing, the winds of inevitability start blowing, United wins a penalty… and Bruno gets it? What the hell was that about? He put it wide and United struggled for anything after that.

Bukayo Saka was key to Nuno’s opener but looked in trouble all game. Arteta said he was in pain but insisted he start. The gamble paid off with the three points, but at what cost to his body?

Still, let’s worry about that next week. Right now, we can celebrate a monster win. 7 goals against United and Chelsea. We’re now leading Spurs in the table, that will likely change after Brentford, but the point here is we’re going to ask questions of them.

Game the next 5 games out with me:

Assume Spurs win today. They have to beat Leicester next Sunday, Brendan’s team has been awful this season, but they are more than capable of doing a job, don’t count on it though.

West Ham will likely lose to Chelsea tomorrow, if that happens, Europe via the league is a pipedream. The Europa is where it’s at for them. They have Frankfurt on Thursday. If they don’t get beaten 3-0, chances are, they are going to rest all their stars for the Arsenal game. It would be fucking nuts to do anything else, beating Frankfurt then Rangers or Leipzig is a lot easier than lucking out in the Premier League.

If Arsenal can take max points there, then we go into a hero weekend. We play Leeds, who will be safe. Spurs go to Anfield, who will 100% be in the title race needing a win at home.

We could go into that game at the bowl ahead on points now. Get a point there and we are in very, very good shape for our final two games against an in form Newcastle and an out of sorts Everton.

This is where we wanted to be this season. Competing for top 4 until the final games of the season. All the muppets that spent the last three weeks telling me we’d finish 8th, where are you now? We’re 10 points from hitting 70. I’m not sure we’ll deliver on that, but getting 10 points from 15 feels a little more achievable than it did 2 games ago.

Then factor the bigger picture so many have refused to see…

Rio Ferdinand was on TV earlier saying United need to be honest about where they are and copy Arsenal. He also said it’s stupid to buy a striker that isn’t perfect for your long-term vision. That’s Rio Ferdinand purring over what we’ve done. Ralf Rangnick thinks United needs 10 new players and at least 6 years to get to Liverpool’s level. Arsenal has done the hard work, we’ve cleared out 20+ players, signed in a load of young players with high ceilings. Whether it was a visionary plan or an accident is another question. Point is, we’ve stumbled on the smartest way to get back to the top. We have been honest about who we are and everyone is noticing.

Now let’s talk about another stupidly obvious point that no one wanted to hear after 3 losses. Arsenal are 4th in the league with 5 games to go without a recognized certified banger of a striker. We’ve scored 52 goals. Joint bottom of the top 7 with West Ham. But… we’re 4th and we don’t score goals. How can anyone that claims football knowledge not recognize that if we put an elite striker in that side we are a Champions League level team?

Edu is talking about one or two signings this summer. That will be a striker, that scores more than 10 goals a season, that will cost in the range of £60m+. Jesus isn’t going to be that guy, even though he’s not managed his 5th goal in the Prem this season. It’ll be a proper name that is tall, can score goals, that can run the line, and bully defenders. Hopefully Eddie can show enough this season to prove he can compete with that player. That’d save us spending on a back-up.

The second player will be an elite midfielder that can compete with Thomas Partey. My hope is it’s Neves. Did I see that Declan Rice refused a contract at West Ham? I did. Arsenal like him, who doesn’t. I’m not sure we’re rich enough for either. Whoever it is will reduce our reliance on our Ghanaian superstar. Those two players alone would have us taking Chelsea’s 3rd place this season.

I doubt we’ll leave it at two, but we’ll be smart with our other signings. Free transfers and players with 18 months left on their deal will fill out the remaining holes.

Arsenal are not far from being a title-challenging team. Liverpool will dip post-Salah/VVD. City will dip when Pep packs it in. Then we’ll be there, ready, with a team of young players that have transitioned to experienced players in their prime.

The overarching point, is don’t listen to the doom prophecies that happen after every blip. Don’t listen to the folk that say we should let Arteta run his deal down next season or think it is insightful and disqualifying to say he makes errors. Don’t listen to people that believed Arsenal were considering firing Arteta if he only made Europe. This is a long-term plan, it is on track, and I will maintain that regardless of the finish this season.

… but, a top 4 finish would be epic. That is the stretch goal. That would be us a year ahead of schedule. It would be sensational considering what we don’t have in the squad. The system is solid, the young players we have are developing Arsenal IP every single game, this project will be the benchmark for how you rebuild with limited funds.

Enjoy your day. Get your Brentford shirt on. Pray for something Spursy.

Podcast will happen later today, I’m flying to New Mexico! x