My commitment to NOT offering up hyperbole this morning is about as reliable as Elon Musk’s commitment to comedy.
Arsenal are massive.
Chelsea spent £250m in the summer and were made to look like Brentford.
We are contending the title this season.
Arsenal delivered the best away performance of the last 20 years.
We have the youngest manager AND team in the Premier League.
This is the most competitive / high level competition in the history of football.
… and we totally bodied a Chelsea side that won the Champions League 18 months ago.
The first half was absolutely outrageous, even if we’d escaped with just a draw, that performance was worthy of title talk.
… but to go on and win it from there? Utterly delicious.
We didn’t give Chelsea an inch all game. They were chasing shadows. They couldn’t move. In the last twenty minutes, they gave up, we were simply too good for them.
William Saliba IS the best central defender in the world right now. No questions.
There is no better #6 on the planet than Thomas Partey right now.
Is there a better defensive unit in Europe right now?
Is Gareth Southgate really watching Benny Blanco smash up teams and considering leaving him at him?
There are no weak spots in that team at the moment. Our place at the top of the league is totally deserved. The sexy conversations we’re in at the moment are through merit, not Arsenal fans getting too excited.
We are:
8 points clear of Spurs with a game in hand
12 points clear of United
13 points clear of Chelsea
15 points clear of Liverpool
The only team to accrue more points at this stage of the season and NOT win the league is Newcastle.
Keegan’s Newcastle wasn’t dealing with a powerhouse team like City, though I am saying we need to be taken seriously.
This time last year, we were still arguing if Arteta was right for the job. Right now, it’s clear, he’s the best young manager in the world, and only bettered in the league by Klopp and Guardiola.
If we beat a Wolves side in the mud next weekend, we’ll spend the next 6 weeks top of the league.
That is beyond anyone’s expectations. This is dream-like stuff. I am so thrilled it is happening to Arsenal.
… and because so many people spent the last two years coming here to tell me Arsenal’s demise was our fault, let me just remind that noisy crew why the idea was interesting.
Mikel Arteta was an exArsenal captain, he knew the size of the club, the job, and he knew the problems.
Instead of going to Rangers or Derby, he tutored under the most innovative manager in world football, we were buying City IP.
There was always going to be some pain during the rebuild, every manager would have dealt with that, but the hope was out the backend, we’d have a coach with no ceiling… we’d not have gotten that if we’d hired Mourinho, Allegri, or any of the other dead names that have passed through the system.
We also had a golden generation of players working their way through the club. If we could marry elite young talent that was hungry to succeed, with the best coaching in Europe, that might pay dividends.
Well, here we are. Title-contenders. No one is making jokes about finishing 8th. No one is talking about rookie managers. No is saying we play boring football. No one is tweeting me ‘where’s that special sauce.’ Everything has come together and Arsenal is once again a serious outfit that looks ready to contend for the next 5 years at the very top of the game.
All the fans that worried we were being laughed at, where are you now? There isn’t a fan in the league that isn’t looking at our project with green eyes.
Our players are all loveable. Our football is the best in the world. We’re going right back to the top.
I can’t be arsed to do a deep analysis right now, I just want to bask in supporting a club that has given me hope against the odds. Life if better when the club you love is doing well.
So, have a great day, I’ll see you in the comments. x
0 Comments