As seen by the eyes of an Arsenal fan
Do I need to mention it? No? I’ll mention it.
Arsenal are unbeaten in the past ten league matches.
If Arsenal only lose to Manchester City, and they don’t win the league because of that one match, then sorry, but you can’t be overly angry or disappointed, I mean all you can say is “fair play”. We would witness another version of City’s unreal end-of-season form and absolutely nobody (without their finances and the depth of their bench) can measure up.
Now, “unbeaten in the past ten league matches”.
I know this fact can be disputed because Arsenal almost lost the last match against the last team on the table and twice in a row dropped a two goal advantage.
But also, in those three matches, I see that we “overcame adversity”, more precisely, we overcame extremely difficult, almost impossible to survive situations.
This is the story of Arsenal’s past three league matches in the buildup to their biggest match of the past two decades – a clash against Manchester City on their home ground, as seen by the eyes of an Arsenal fan.
Part one of the series can be found here.
Complacency, ghosts from the past, a certain “Shit, we’re sorry” and West Ham away
After a brutal match, comparable to the infamous operation “Black Hawk Down” on the road in Liverpool, Arsenal’s players must urgently gather their composure and go to “one of” their London rivals – relegation contenders West Ham.
West Ham – according to many – does not have an excessive chance against Arsenal.
My friend, a West Ham fan, is watching the match with me. He is not optimistic. Far from optimistic. From our previous conversations, it is obvious that the manager of West Ham, experienced David Moyes, is the biggest problem in the club. West Ham are just not playing well.
You love to hear it.
Unlike him, I, just like many Arsenal fans, feel optimistic.
The statistics are on our side: Arsenal have won in all five away games in London this season, and we haven’t experienced a defeat against West Ham in several years.
We have this.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose sad face after Liverpool’s tying goal went around the football world, is not playing this time. Groin issue.
Scot Kieran Tierney comes in his place. A classic fullback, a great fighter, a favorite of the fans and a collateral victim of Arteta’s system, which nurtures more technically skilled defenders, who – instead of penetrating runs on the flank – find their place under the sun in the middle of the field, where they serve as “surplus” and create chaos for opposing teams.
Young Frenchman William Saliba, the heart of Arsenal’s defence, is still out.
Dreamland
The referee signals the start of the match, and the facial expressions of the participants at the pub table tell different stories – stories of optimism and stories of pessimism.
Just seven minutes into the game, a great combination of Arsenal’s players: Bukayo Saka finds Thomas Partey with the ball, the ball is shifted to Martin Odegaard, he passes to Benjamin White, who in turn finds Gabriel Jesus, and Jesus gives his club the lead with a simple tap in after only seven minutes of the game. A classic Arsenal, Wenger-esque play that made many people fall in love with the team in red.
“Who is he guarding?!“, is heard from the other side of the table. But I have only two things on my mind: The words schadenfreude and Champions.
We didn’t even have time to comment on the goal, when three minutes later, in the tenth minute, from the left wing Gabriel Martinelli finds captain Odegaard with a precise cross to the far post, who scores a delightful volley to make it 2-0 for the Arsenal.
Eyes on the London Stadium, thoughts on the Etihad Stadium
Just ten minutes after the start of the match, the score reads West Ham 0, Arsenal 2.
Ecstasy.
“I love this team”, “Boys against men”, “Let’s go for the title”, “Odegaard you absolute legend”, “Let’s increase the goal difference now”. Put any of these in the mouths of Arsenal fans and you will not make a mistake.
It’s nice when it’s nice.
A glance at my friend reads a whole different thing: www.suicide-prevention-hotline.org.
He’s done: “Well, you’re going to kill us 7-0“, “Fucking Moyes“, “Fucking Antonio“, “We’re not scoring, we’re not fucking scoring“.
I try to ease my friend’s pain, shrug my shoulders and offer a hand of peace with the words “It will get better”. I understand him. I was in his chair. I was going through the things he’s going through. United 8-2, City 6-3/5-0/4-1, Chelsea 6-0… I was in his shoes. I know how helpless it feels to watch the dismantling of a team you are ready to go to the end of the world for.
But now we are in a completely different situation and I have a smile on my face.
We have a two-goal advantage, but the situation at Anfield doesn’t even cross my mind. We are miles ahead of West Ham, as evidenced by the scenes on the pitch. We run with the ball, and they run after our shadows. There is no danger.
And while I’ve been watching how Arsenal’s players are the first in everything on the field for half an hour, my thoughts are taking me some 360 kilometers north.
Eyes on the London Stadium, thoughts on the Etihad Stadium.
“If we play like this against Manchester City, we have nothing to fear”.
Once again I give myself the right to dream.
Fear and trembling at the London Stadium or an introduction to the land of panic
And while I was looking at the TV screen with stars in my eyes, contentedly drinking a beer with thoughts on the Etihad Stadium, West Ham is on the ball more and more often.
After a quarter of an hour they had only 24% of the possession.
Where did that come from now?
Surely it isn’t…?
Complacency.
A point at Anfield as a blessing and a curse
As I watched the Arsenal team suddenly drop their killer pace that would surely improve the goal difference on the table, I am forced to mentally return to the London Stadium.
“For fuck’s sake, the main thought in their minds surely isn’t that just last week they had a 2-0 lead against Liverpool at Anfield, who – with that charge would have easily destroyed even Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League, and this is West Ham, who could easily get relegated from the league, so there’s no point in trying too much?!”
You’re messing with us…
The Arsenal players – driven by pure complacency – relax and almost immediately the sucker punch arrives.
Thomas Partey, in his relaxation in the danger zone, gifts the ball to the young captain of West Ham, Declan Rice, who immediately plays Lucas Paqeueta, only for the Arsenal defender Gabriel to knock him down in a desperate attempt to save the two goal lead.
It’s the 32nd minute, and the referee just called for a penalty kick for West Ham.
Arsenal players complain that Declan Rice played with his hand when taking the ball from the easy-going Partey, but the penalty is just a collateral victim of one thing – complacency. Handball or not, there is only one thing to blame for the situation.
“You’re fucking with us,” I snap at the TV with gesticulations in the tone of the most passionate Italians.
Our defenders go for the double. One match the right centre-back concedes a penalty, immediately the next match the left centre-back concedes a penalty.
God damn it, two penalties against us in two consecutive games.
Shades of 2010s Arsenal.
I console myself.
Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale survived the penalty kick against Liverpool, he will survive this one as well – for sure. That’s a proper confidence boost, especially in such a short period of time between games in which it happened.
And we don’t even need to mention his saves. We believe.
Fuck.
Said Benrahma sends Ramsdale the wrong way in the 33rd minute and scores.
West Ham 1, Arsenal 2.
Arsenal’s players and fans are panicking.
Need the solution for complacency? Just concede from your own mistake. The situation is worse now? I never said it would get better… but at least there is no more complacency
Arsenal again find themselves in the same situation as the last match, when after 2-0 at Anfield they came down to 2-1 in the first half.
Complacency is now switching into full-on panic mode, and West Ham, just like Liverpool, are chasing – at least for now – the equaliser.
Partey is booked just two minutes after the penalty after gifting the ball again and West Ham are really going for it now.
First chance, second, third… Arsenal is no longer that Arsenal. To make matters worse, West Ham is no longer that West Ham either.
However, the referee’s whistle to mark the end of the first half again goes to the advantage of the guests, and to the detriment of the home team.
West Ham, who entered the game as if they had come to the beach, end the half with nine shots on Arsenal’s goal, while Arsenal end the half with only four shots.
In the words of a certain Mikel Arteta: “This is not the efucking estandard”.
End of first half, West Ham 1, Arsenal 2
Just like against Liverpool, Arsenal fans have to welcome the start of the second half with trepidation.
Add to that a scale in their hand.
What’s worse: Anfield’s rage or the complacency and then full-on panic of the Arsenal players on the field?
We are not even aware of what awaits us in the second half.
The miracle aligner is an Arsenal fan… Or is he?
West Ham start the second half just as they ended the first. Unfortunately, the same can be said for Arsenal.
But just six minutes later – a miracle.
After a corner for Arsenal, the ball bounces to Martinelli, who takes a shot and – although it doesn’t hit the frame of the goal – hits something almost as good.
Antonio (that fucking Antonio), plays with his hand in the home penalty area and brings Arsenal a nice gift – a penalty. The perfect opportunity to get out of the jaws of another game where a two-goal advantage was dropped.
In addition, a goal gives us the opportunity to immediately approach the game itself smarter – with an apparently safe distance from the opponent (how safe can one be in these moments?).
As always, the penalty is taken by the young prodigy Bukayo Saka. The boy doesn’t miss.
“Let’s go for 1-3,”, I pump myself.
Saka prepares for the shot, Arsenal fans hold their breath and…
He misses.
Disbelief.
Scratch what I said before – now the panic starts.
Ghosts from the past part 1.
The year is 2021. The Euro 2020 final is being played at Wembley, one of the most iconic English stadiums.
Who’s playing? England against Italy.
Saka is on the bench.
Manchester United defender Luke Shaw puts the English in the lead right from the start, in the second minute, and the score was 1-0 for the hosts until the 67th minute, when Leonardo Bonucci, the undroppable defender of Italy and Juventus, scores to bring the match back level.
Bukayo Saka enters the match just three minutes later. This is what every boy dreams of. International tournament final at Wembley. Twenty minutes to become an absolute hero of the nation.
Although the Italians are dominating, young Bukayo is patiently waiting for his chance.
At the end of regular time, the score is 1-1, and the fourth referee shows seven minutes of stoppage time.
The minutes ticked away, both the Italians and the English tried, and then in the 96th minute, in that sweetest time to become a hero, Saka got the chance to never pay for a single beer in the country ever again.
Experienced defender and captain of the Italian team Giorgio Chiellini receives the ball poorly on the line, Saka steals the ball and a huge opening shows up on the wing.
At that moment, Chiellini shows what experience means. Unable to catch up to him on the wing, he simply pulls him by the shirt like a child and throws him to the floor.
Yellow card for Chiellini, Arsenal fans in seventh heaven. Saka just became the worst thing that ever happened to Chiellini… and he was bitten by Luis Suarez at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, there is no winner after 90 minutes, and the score on the board reads 1-1.
In extra time, Saka continues to play, but there is no winner even after two hours of play.
Penalties.
The English have a chance (for the first time since 1966!) to win an international tournament, but they still have to win the trophy through penalty kicks. Anyone who doesn’t know about the horrible connection Englishmen and penalties have in international tournaments, doesn’t know the pain all Englishmen carry inside their hearts.
That’s why they drink so much.
Domenico Berardi puts Italy in the lead, the captain of England and Tottenham, Arsenal’s bitter rivals, Harry Kane brings it back to 2-2.
Andrea Belotti shoots the next penalty and… it’s saved.
The English can already see their team lifting the trophy.
“It’s… coming home?!”.
Now the famous anti-hero of Manchester United, centre-back Harry Maguire, is taking the penalty. Alexa, play Gangsta’s Paradise and give me a YouTube compilation of his mistakes to cheer me up.
No. Way. The English have a 2-3 advantage. Maguire scores.
It’s Leonardo Bonucci’s turn, who has already hit the net of the English goal once before in the match, and just like the first time, he converts again. The score is level: 3-3.
Then another United player, a favorite of the English because of his dedication to humanitarian work, comes to the penalty spot. It’s Marcus Rashford. English fans are confident – it’s going to be 3-4.
It hits the post. It remains 3-3 and the Wembley crowd cannot believe it.
It’s going to happen again.
The opportunity is given to Federico Bernardeschi, who does not miss his opportunity.
Italians lead 4-3.
Manchester United’s newly arrived player, Jadon Sancho (whose market value at the time was 100 million euros), comes to fulfill his duty in front of the goal.
If he thought playing the 100 million pricetag on his back was a tough, high-pressure affair – he just found out he was dead wrong.
His attempt is saved. It remains 4-3.
Whole of England is panicking.
The Italians are one penalty away from the trophy.
A player well-known to the English, (then) Chelsea’s Jorginho, who – almost comically – has the role of penalty taker in that club, gets his chance. The English are fucked. He doesn’t miss.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saves.
The English have a chance – a chance for hope. If they score the next penalty, they tie the score and do not lose the game.
In Jorginho’s place comes 19-year-old Bukayo Saka, a wonderkid from Arsenal. A black player. An easy target.
The racists are just waiting. One of the most important penalty kicks in England’s history, he has to score this.
Bukayo takes the run, shoots into the lower right corner, but the towering Gianluigi Donnarumma correctly guesses and saves the shot.
Italians win the Euro 2020.
Tears – on both sides.
But the cameras are focused on a young boy, getting consoled by his England teammates – club rivals and friends alike.
A brutal harrasment of young Saka begins. Venomous comments, racist comments, death threats and what not.
All the media in the world report about the abuse he has to endure.
But he is fortunate in his misfortune. He’s led by none other than Mikel Arteta. He understands how to approach the situation. He understands the seriousness of the situation.
The whole club is involved in the carefully planned action, starting from Arsenal fans to the very top of the club.
“We love you Saka”, “You are our hero”, “Keep your head up, we are all with you”, messages can be seen all over the Arsenal community. His pain is their pain.
The club prepare a wall for him with letters from children who still adore him. Heart drawings, gifts, teddy bears…
Arsenal fans take him under their wing and protect him like a drop of water in the palm of their hand. He feels loved. It’s his family. Arsenal is a family.
And what does love provide, more than anything? Home. Security. Hope.
Saka gets out of a situation that 99.9% (older and more experienced) players would not be able to get out of. A certain Roberto Baggio comes to mind.
And not only does he find a way out, but continues to take penalties for Arsenal.
And he doesn’t miss!
But, precisely because of that, there is always a question, irking us, hiding in the deepest corners of our minds.
“What if he misses again?”.
Ghosts of the past part 2.
A word that starts with an “s” and ends with “hit” happens. Arsenal, as a collective, are shitting themselves. Their knees are trembling.
Not only did Saka miss the penalty, but eyebrows were immediately raised. The boy must not go through the same torture again.
Thoughts are preoccupied with disbelief, the feeling of needing to provide protection and most of all – fear.
There is no Zinchenko, who – although he has not even been an Arsenal player for a full season – has shown how great of a leader he is and how he understands that this is a young team, so he regularly calms them down in difficult situations.
But now – a dark cloud is above the young squad.
West Ham once again attack. Arsenal missed their golden ticket into the three point land.
And he who doesn’t score…
The first rule of football
Just two minutes later (shades of Liverpool) Jarrod Bowen of all people draws the score to 2-2.
55th minute, and Arsenal do the same thing as last week, and lose the 2-0 lead.
Arsenal are losing control – again.
City are breathing down their necks, and they play as if they don’t want points – they just want to end the game as soon as possible.
Arsenal’s players are holding their own, but this is not the match of Champions.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is making changes, but without much success.
West Ham is the one who is more concrete in their chances and in the 82nd minute Antonio hits the crossbar, but the result remains the same.
Still, Arsenal fans are just waiting for Aaron Rasmdale to concede a third goal… from West Ham. West fucking Ham.
Faith is lost in the players. How could they do this?
But the fans don’t play. Fortunately, they don’t play. Because Arsenal held on.
The referee signals the end of the match. Arsenal survived another extremely emotional match marked by Bukaya Saka’s penalty miss.
According to many, it was Saka who cost us three points with a missed penalty, it happened again.
Does the boy have the strength to cope with a crucial penalty miss along with the pressure of the title rush?
Shit, we’re sorry
Arsenal fans immediately turn their attention to their mobile phones. Some to complain, some to swear, and some to see what the players and the manager have to say.
The players are apologizing on social medias.
“We’re sorry”, “We made a mistake”; “We shouldn’t have let this lead slip and we take full responsibility”, “This is not good enough”, “You don’t deserve it”.
But everyone is waiting for the words of young Saka, which arrive the same day.
“Regardless of the outcome, I’ll always accept my responsibility. Apologies Gunners, I’ll do everything I can to make it right”.
Apology accepted, it happens.
We don’t even worry about that…
We worry the witchhunt for – we often forget this – a very young Saka does not start again. Just hope to God it doesn’t happen again.
Fuming Arteta
Arteta was absolutely furious at the post-match press conference.
“The players were losing posession for nothing”, “When I spoke to the players, each one had a different answer to what just happened, which means that it was not just one mistake that was a factor”.
This is extremely unlike Arteta, who defends his players to the death.
What’s going on in this club?
Arsenal fans in panic, but should they be?
“City is not letting up”, “We just bottled another two goal lead”, “What will happen to Saka?”, “Did we just hand over the title to City?”. Just like before, put any of these in the mouths of the Arsenal fans and you will not make a mistake.
Things look bad.
The players just made life difficult for themselves by being complacent and then had to experience Saka miss a penalty kick for the first time in two years.
But. They held on.
The match was West Ham’s for the taking.
In unpredecented circumstances for a very young squad, they held on. After a look at the first half, a draw at West Ham is two points lost. But after a look at the second half, a draw at West Ham is a point gained.
This Arsenal pack does not fall. Even when they’re very much wobbling, a voice in their heads is keeping them from falling down on their knees. They have what it takes in them. One look in their eyes reveals a controlled fire burning. But blink – and you’ll miss it.
Arsenal they play last-place Southampton next, who are almost certainly getting relegated from the league, next.
We put West Ham behind us and count on a win against Southampton.
(End of part two of three.)