Arsenal Still Has One Big Thing to Prove

There is a sense of optimism and opportunity at the Emirates, but there remains a key question about Mikel Arteta’s side when it comes to facing top teams.

There is a very clear pattern about Arsenal these days. It wins a handful of games in a row and everybody gets very excited, and then it plays a big side and loses, and everybody realizes its wins were all against weaker teams. And that’s why, quite apart from the points on offer, Wednesday’s home game against Liverpool is so important. It’s also why the most encouraging performance from Arsenal so far this year was probably the 2–1 defeat to Manchester City on New Year’s Day.

Arsenal was 1–0 up in that game and playing extremely well before, in quick succession, striker Gabriel Martinelli missed a very good chance, Manchester City was awarded a penalty as Granit Xhaka grabbed at Bernardo Silva’s shirt and center back Gabriel was sent off. City ended up winning, and it’s reasonable to point out that Arsenal to a large degree blew up under pressure in that game, yet another example of its weakness of temperament. But it’s also only fair to acknowledge that, for the period it was 11 vs. 11, Arsenal, for the first time in years, looked like the better side against high-class opposition in a league game.

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But it was still another defeat against a top side. Arsenal has lost five out of five in the league against teams who finished in the top four last season. It was well beaten by Liverpool in the League Cup semifinals. It went into the Premier League game at Anfield this season on a run of eight games unbeaten in the league and lost 4–0. In one sense, this game is a free hit. Arsenal, winner of five straight, is already in fourth, with three games in hand on fifth-place Manchester United. Qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2016 would represent a major achievement. But in another sense this is an opportunity for an in-form Arsenal to test itself against the Premier League’s in-form side. After Manchester City was held at Crystal Palace on Monday, a win for Liverpool would lift it to within a point of the top.

Whatever happens, the mood is very different at Arsenal now than it was at the end of August. Then, after starting the season with three straight defeats, there was a clear sense that manager Mikel Arteta was in trouble. He took over in January 2019 and ended that first season impressively, leading Arsenal to wins over City and Chelsea as it won the FA Cup. There was reason then to believe that, after years of drift, there was something beginning to stir at Arsenal.

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In that context, last season felt like a step backward, as Arsenal finished eighth in the Premier League. There were flickers of promise—the wins over Chelsea, Leicester and Tottenham—but also a fear that the focus had shifted too much to youth and that those young players were in danger of being overexposed too soon. The season finished with four straight wins, but any optimism that and a summer of significant, if not necessarily exciting, spending had engendered vanished with those defeats in August to Brentford, Chelsea and City.

To an extent, Arsenal was a victim of the calendar. With several players missing, it took on a buoyant, newly promoted side away, then had to play last season’s Champions League finalists. Arteta asked fans then to trust the process, and Arsenal is being rewarded for its patience. After an unexceptional first season, Thomas Partey has excelled recently, his presence liberating Xhaka to press high alongside Martin Ødegaard. At the same time, Arteta was ruthless in offloading Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and his departure has led to a far more balanced front three, with Martinelli, who finally seems free of his injuries, and Bukayo Saka flanking Alexandre Lacazette, who drops deep to create space.

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Arsenal has conceded just seven goals in its last 11 league games. Ben White, after a difficult start, has settled alongside Gabriel. The wins over Wolves, one hanging on to a lead with 10 men, the other coming from behind with two late goals, suggested this Arsenal is not the soft touch of old but has developed a character.

Arteta joined Arsenal having been assistant at Man City, and the influence of Pep Guardiola is now clear. The squad remains young and is not deep, while Lacazette is out of contract in the summer and hoping for a longer deal than the one year the club has so far offered him, and so Arsenal remains vulnerable. The struggles against big teams remain an issue. But for the first time since long before the end of the Arsène Wenger era, there is a sense of progress and optimism.