On the home front, it is a seemingly irrepressible Norwegian force that is dampening Arsenal expectations of Premier League glory even as they sit atop the table a quarter of the way through the campaign.
A trip to the Scandinavian country, however, proved no stumbling block for Mikel Arteta’s in-form side as they moved within touching distance of the Europa League knockout stage with a 1-0 victory over Bodo/Glimt.
Twenty-odd miles north of the Arctic Circle, on an artificial pitch, against a home team on a magnificent 14-game winning streak at home in Europe, best known among English fans for inflicting upon Jose Mourinho the heaviest defeat of his career, this had the makings of a tough evening’s work.
In the end, though, despite what was eventually an impressive display from the home side, it never quite turned into the icy examination Arsenal must have been anticipating when they left London yesterday afternoon.
Perhaps it was because the sheeting rain and driving wind that had been rampaging across this small town for much of the day had mercifully subsided in time for kick-off, much to the relief of 400 travelling fans in the most exposed of away ends.
Perhaps it was because, thanks to a winter World Cup, the group stage of this season’s Europa League will be wrapped up long before the elements truly take their harshest turn and the long, dark days set in in this part of the world.
Or perhaps - most likely - it was because Mikel Arteta, with early qualification in sight, gambled on a stronger than expected side and got his reward as star man Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game.
Another three points mean Arsenal are a perfect nine from nine in this season’s competition, the quirk of a postponed fixture meaning they are on the brink of the knockout stages without yet having have to face PSV Eindhoven, the only team in Group A with anything like comparable European pedigree.
Qualification can be sealed when the Dutch side come to the Emirates next week, raising the prospect of some valuable dead rubbers amid a congested schedule, though clinching top spot remains a key priority beyond that, since group winners have the luxury of a bye into the last-16 and avoid a potentially tasty playoff with a Champions League dropout in the New Year.
Arteta’s team selection suggested he is taking little for granted at this stage. Along with Saka, Ben White and William Saliba - both enjoying outstanding starts to the season in defence - kept their places from Sunday’s thrilling win over Liverpool, as did Martin Odegaard, playing a club game in Norway for the first time since departing for Real Madrid as a teenager.
Of the more regular Europa League support cast, Albert Sambi Lokonga made most of this latest chance to impress, creating Saka’s goal with a fine through-ball, though the England winner was a touch fortunate that his initially blocked effort ricocheted back onto his chest and in.
Lokonga, like most of the Gunners’ deputies, knows that with Arteta’s first XI in such flying form there is little that can be done on a Thursday night right now to warrant a starting berth on Sunday. Still, losing Thomas Partey to injury has cost Arsenal dear in each of the past two seasons and Lokonga’s displays when called upon so far this term offer some hope they may be better placed to cope with that eventuality should it arise this time around.
The Aspmyra Stadion can accommodate less than a fifth of the 50,000 population of Bodo, but everyone you spoke to in the town throughout the day seemed to have a ticket. Some did not need one, watching from the balconies of the apartment block which backs onto one end of the ground.
Four walls of yellow, they were, unsurprisingly, ceaselessly noisy throughout one of the biggest night’s in the club’s history, though they were at their loudest when rising as one to bemoan Amahl Pellegrino’s glaring first-half miss, the forward shanking well wide when put clean through.
That chance aside, Arsenal had cruised through the opening period but were briefly put under the pump early in the second as first Ola Solbakken and then Runar Espejord wasted excellent openings.
The home crowd sensed an equaliser was coming but Arteta was equally alert and turned to more of his big guns, the introductions of Granit Xhaka and Gabriel Martinelli wrestling back control.
