Why it’s time for Arsenal fans to believe this is their year | OneFootball

Six years after Mikel Arteta took over what he described as a “dead” club, Arsenal sit top of the Premier League again after a 0-1 win over Fulham and another weekend that showed just how far they have come.

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Just before the recent international break, Arsenal beat West Ham 2-0 to go top of the Premier League. They stayed there when Liverpool lost to an injury time goal at Chelsea later that same day.

I’m starting there because by the time “half price” Declan Rice had scored the goal to take us top – against his old club no less – Jo and I had landed at Berlin’s Brandenburg airport for a few days in the German capital. And, on a day that Mikel Arteta celebrated his 300th game in charge of the Arsenal, this represented a real full circle moment for me.

Did it? I hear you ask. Well, allow me to explain.

Jo and I have made a few trips to Berlin now, with the last one taking place in November 2019. Anyone remember November 2019? No?

I wouldn’t blame you. Jo and I checked into our hotel on the 23rd November 2019 with Arsenal 2-1 down at home to Southampton. Around 6pm that evening, my phone vibrated with the notification that Alex Lacazette had scored a very late equaliser to rescue a point for the Arsenal. I remember laughing a mirthless laugh.

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Obviously, having missed the game, I’ll never know exactly how it went down, but what I do know is that the goal was greeted with a general level of apathy and embarrassment by fans and players alike. Arsenal were on a run of 3 points out of 15 in the league and without a win in all competitions in 6 games.

The good ship Arsenal was a sinking.

Unai Emery limped on another few days, but the axe fell following a home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League.

A few weeks later, Mikel Arteta walked into an Arsenal Football Club he felt was “dead”.

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Fast forward nearly 6 years, it’s fair to say our outlook has changed somewhat. And I think it’s important that Arsenal fans take a step back and recognise the journey Mikel Arteta has taken the team on in that period.

From a team that you’d watch from behind a sofa, if you were watching at all, whenever we went up to Liverpool or Manchester to a team that hasn’t lost to Manchester City since the 2022/23 season and just once to Liverpool in that same time. A team now, 8 games into the Premier League season which has only conceded 3 goals – and only 1 of those from open play.

The level of our team is now so high that we can go to Fulham, not play particularly well, but still come away feeling a little hard done by not to have won by more than the 1 goal Trossard bagged from a set piece (again, ole ole).

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You may have heard this already, but it bears repeating. For the first time since the 2003/04 season, Arsenal did not allow a single shot on target for the second Premier League game in a row. You want further proof of how good we are? Did you see how Fulham set up against us? In a home game?

And, you know, let all the people who don’t want us to be as good as we are say what they want. “Haramball”, “Set Piece FC”… smother me in those words like it’s honey – because the truth is everyone saying those things wishes they were as effective as we were from those set pieces. Just as I did whenever we used to go up to Stoke and get smashed all over the place. I hated our weakness in those areas and how Arsene seemed unwilling, or unable to do anything about it.

But then, I grew up on George Graham, so when people do call us those names, I take it as a compliment.

If I were a Fulham fan, I would have hated to hear Marco Silva say in the post match about our winning goal, “we couldn’t handle him (big Gabby)”

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What I don’t get is those Arsenal fans who aren’t actively loving this Arsenal team and manager to pieces.

Yes, the goals are coming from set pieces at the moment, but it’s not like we’re having no shots and the set pieces are magicked out of thin air. Nick Pope had a bit of a worldie against us a couple of weeks back, Viktor Gyokeres could easily have had a couple against our old friend Bernd Leno on Saturday.

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There’s enough people out there who hate Arsenal without the fanbase turning in on itself in a spiral of self loathing, especially this season when – holy shit, did you see how Liverpool lost at home to Manchester United yesterday?

Oh. My. God.

Let me tell you something for a fact, every Liverpool fan on the planet wishes they could defend like we can. I’m not going to say they “imagine being us”, that would be crass…

Before I leave you, I was chatting to some Arsenal mates last week and we were talking about our chances this season. I’m not going to mention names, but my mate Nige was very on the fence about our chances this season and I was saying that I can’t get behind that way of thinking.

I think everyone connected with Arsenal Football Club, the manager, the players – us – should be so excited about this season and what it might hold for us.

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My belief was crystallised in an image from the international break. It was Bukayo Saka as he celebrated the latest slice of genius he has normalised to the point where people don’t even really talk about him anymore. I looked at his face as he celebrated and I had an epiphany.

The boy we’ve watched grow into one of the best players in the world is no more. He’s a man now. The man.

He certainly played like it on Saturday as he caused chaos from both right and left halves of the pitch. I’m not going to get into the penalty decision, but what got a little forgotten in the aftermath of the VAR overrule was the touch with which Saka brought down Declan Rice’s crossfield switch before setting off towards the penalty area.

It was a gossamer touch. It may speak to one of Saka’s greatest strengths – making the impossible not just possible, but routine.

You know, like when he absolutely ripped the ball past Leeds Lucas Perri with his “wrong” foot at the end of August.

Lest we might think Bukayo is getting ahead of himself, we all heard him talk about his “rubbish” corners after Saturday’s game, so he knows he’s got room to improve.

Let nobody be in any doubt, though, this time is his time.