I don't think I’m alone in beginning to think Arsenal’s form this season is uncannily echoing Leicester ’s crazy 2016 title winning campaign.
I’m not comparing the two teams or their histories, but I am comparing the way that both of them were constantly, incessantly written off, even this late in the season. In that sense, Arsenal really are mimicking that miraculous Claudio Ranieri side.
They got off to a flyer and people said it wouldn’t last. They consolidated in December and were top at Christmas, but then had a little wobble where they dropped behind the favourites, but then came back with a real show of grit and character.
Leicester went virtually every game until Easter with people saying it wouldn’t last, they’d collapse, but went on to win it by 10 points. So who am I to write off Arsenal now.
I’ve maintained throughout this season that Manchester City have won over the course and distance so many times it has to make them favourites, and no doubt they know how to string together an intimidating run of wins on the home straight.
But are we doing Arsenal a disservice? They had that bad run in February, and everyone was saying: ‘here we go, the collapse is coming’. But the reaction has been remarkable. Seven straight Premier League wins.
They’ve not played fantastic football in all those wins, but that’s the point. Like Leicester, the momentum and confidence which comes from winning has given them a new dimension, an extra edge.
I know they’ve got to go to Liverpool this weekend, and also City and Newcastle, but I’m not betting against them now, for a very simple reason: the manager has created the perfect environment.
It’s Easter Sunday so we can talk about resurrection, and maybe it’s not pushing things too far to say Mikel Arteta has brought Arsenal back from the dead! I think in terms of his own management, and plenty of his players.
I remember a couple of years back, even more recently than that in fact, he was getting booed by his own fans and there were genuine questions about his chances of survival. And players like Granit Xhaka looked finished.
It’s almost unique these days to see a manager and his players come under pressure like that, and the owners not pull the plug almost immediately. Arsenal themselves had done it when Unai Emery had a bad spell early in his Gunners reign.
Instead, they showed belief in Arteta’s methods and his philosophy, and most importantly in the environment he was fostering. His back for Xhaka, for instance, has delivered a player who has been vital this season, but also one who buys into the environment completely.
The same can be said about the rest of the squad. Arteta got rid of the players who didn’t buy into it, and made some smart signings…not superstars, but players who would fit it perfectly.
Contrast that with Chelsea, where they’re playing Football Manager, not building a real life squad. It looks broken at Stamford Bridge, a club where they’re amassing players in the same position to create a bad atmosphere of rivalry and suspicion.
I think that’s the most impressive thing about Arteta - his vision and his ability to build the right environment. It is SO unusual these days to see players arrive in the summer and fit in straight away. Usually, only the megastars do that, and even not always with them.
It’s no coincidence. Even the players who arrived in January have contributed massively, and that’s because they’ve come into the right atmosphere, a place where the players are happy, and believe.
It used to be like that throughout Jurgen Klopp’s reign, but not any more, which is why you can see Arsenal doing the unthinkable - in recent years anyway - and winning at Anfield.
If Klopp doesn’t know what the problem is with Liverpool, then I’m not going to second guess, but it strikes me they’ve always been side whose confidence is based on momentum, as we’ve seen so many times under this manager.
They get on a run and the confidence that breeds maintains it. But the converse can happen. They’ve been stripped of momentum all season - when they’ve had a little run, there’s always something to stop it.
I think, sadly, the answer won’t come until the summer now. I don’t see them getting top four, and I think Klopp will have to resolve it in the transfer market.
But then Arteta has shown if you bring in the right players, rather than just throwing a bunch of big money signings at the problem, it is possible to come back from the dead.
