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, while part two of the series can be found here.
Roman betrayal, RMS Titanic, unwawering Bukayo Saka, The Invincibles and Reiss Nelson or in other words Southampton at home
Friday finally knocked on the door and we host Southampton at home. Behind Mikel Arteta’s team are two away games from hell. Away games without a win.
Two games – two points – four goals conceded – four goals scored.
On paper, the form of a mid-table club.
On the pitch however, the form of a club that has a Guardian Angel. A Guardian Angel who values only one thing – belief.
Still, last place Southampton (who are in nothing short of a criminal form) are coming to visit us. In the six matches preceding the clash against Arsenal, Southampton can boast with a staggering four defeats and two draws. Not to mention twelve goals conceded and four scored.
They haven’t tasted victory for a month and a half.
With Manchester City just around the corner, the Guardian Angel overseeing Mikel Arteta’s young side can take a well-deserved break.
Right?
Right…?
If West Ham is a relegation contender, what is Southampton or why are Arsenal fans the Marie Curie when it comes to inventing new ways to be wrong
A look at the Arsenal fans who came to watch “Arsenal’s sure win over Southampton” with me reveals relaxation and calmness that only a match between the top and bottom teams on the table can provide.
Although earlier in the season, on the road to Southampton (God knows how), we drew 1-1, optimism is at an enviable level, and the traumas at the London Stadium and Anfield are behind us.
I mean, if West Ham is a relegation contender, what is Southampton?
I don’t see a scenario where we don’t win at the fortress called Emirates. The boys have seen what complacency brings them. They won’t make the same mistake again this time.
Granit Xhaka and the power of forgiveness
Oleksandr Zinchenko returns to the team after missing the trip to West Ham because of a groin injury.
However, due to illness, we’re missing our standard midfielder Granit Xhaka, a long-time servant of the London club, who won the lost love of Arsenal’s fans with pure work and dedication, after he – as team captain – entered an open conflict with the fans when he was applauded ironically… because he was leaving the game.
Then, when leaving the pitch because he was subbed off, he took off the sacred Arsenal shirt and gave the fans a simple, yet powerful message: “Fuck off!“.
There is not a a single person who wanted to see him in Arsenal’s shirt ever again.
At the time Arsenal was led by the renowned Spanish coach Unai Emery, the master of Europa League with his Sevilla side, for whom the Arsenal dressing room full of ego maniacs was still too much. Add to that the enormity of the job of stepping into the shoes of a certain Arsène Wenger – you may remember him – and you have a Michelin-level recipe for disaster.
After a series of bad results and simply bad performances on the pitch, Emery was fired, Mikel Arteta joined the club, and one of the biggest redemption arcs in Arsenal’s history began to roll slowly.
Three years have passed since the infamous incident and the booming voice of the Emirates now chants his name again week in week out.
Granit Xhaka – he’s one of our own.
True strength lies in forgiveness – not revenge. Just ask Granit Xhaka and the Arsenal fans.
Instead of Xhaka in his very thankless box-to-box position, the newcomer from the summer transfer window, the young Portuguese player Fabio Vieira, who is yet to win the trust of Arsenal fans, plays.
It should also be noted that young William Saliba – to the regret of all Arsenal fans – is missing this match as well. Missing one or two games due to back pain turns into a month out. Concerns are growing.
Who cares about basketball when Arsenal is on the TV?
Kick-off time has come, and basketball is on the television.
Because of the leased time slot, the television company that also claims the rights to the English Premier League must show the basketball match that was scheduled before Arsenal – until the very end.
Optimism turns to anger.
“Who cares about basketball when Arsenal is on the TV?!”, I ask rhetorically.
The basketball match has 10 seconds left, but basketball is not like football – basketball has time-outs, which both teams are happy to take advantage of, free throws…
And every second spent watching random strangers run across the basketball court seems like a whole year.
But the real rage is yet to come.
Double facepalm
“Arsenal is down 1-0! Arsenal is down 1-0!” shouts my friend, who is forced to follow the match on his phone, while I flip through the TV channels to find out if Arsenal is being broadcast somewhere else.
I freeze.
“Losing 1-0?! How?! What minute is it?!”, I asked frantically.
But not a single minute is in question. Not even a minute, because after only thirty seconds of play, Arsenal are behind.
After only thirty seconds the scoreline reads: Arsenal 0, Southampton 1.
I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know how we conceded a goal so easily.
The match played on March 4th at the Emirates against AFC Bournemouth immediately comes to mind, when we were down 1-0 after only nine (!) seconds of the game.
I have only two words about that match: Reiss Nelson.
But more on that later.
Arsenal fans, who I know as calm and gentle people, are foaming at the mouth with rage.
“Not only are we fucking losing 1-0, and it’s not even the first minute, but we still have to watch basketball!”
Ten seconds left in the basketball match after a minute of play turned into four seconds left in the basketball match.
Twilight Zone. I have no other explanation.
However, all bad things, just like good things, must come to an end, and that’s how the basketball match ends on the television… just so that the TV channel can play commercials.
Just like the Arsenal players against West Ham, they are fucking with us.
We. Are. Boiling.
The pictures from the Emirates finally come on the TV, and the eyes immediately go to the result.
“Fuck, they’re really already losing 1-0. What the hell is wrong with them?”
The director shows the replay of the goal. I can’t believe what I’m looking at.
After only thirty seconds of the game, the hero of the match at Anfield, Aaron Ramsdale, makes a mistake when passing the ball, and gifts to ball to the young Argentine Carlos Alcaraz who immediately returns the ball, but to the net, not to Ramsdale.
“This is not happening. They fucked up again”.
And then a terrifying thought creeps unannounced into my mind: “Fuck, Manchester City are next”.
Ramsdale falls to his knees after conceding the goal. He shares my disbelief.
But the Guardian Angel and the fire in Arsenal players’ eyes do not handpick the matches in which they appear. They are always there.
Injured William Saliba’s replacement, Rob Holding, reaches Ramsdale, grabs his arms and pulls back up on his feet.
“Let’s move on, dammit.”
And really, let’s move on. Not even a minute has passed.
Arsenal take control and start to attack and battle for the Emirates.
Southampton’s goal after just thirty seconds was a fluke. For sure.
Et tu, Theo?
Arsenal’s attackers, aware of their obligation to the fans, but also to themselves, are looking for a way back into the match. Gabriel Martinelli, captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey combine to – just like against Liverpool and West Ham – give Arsenal a goal in the first quarter of the game. At least one.
But to no avail.
Forcing is a thing that is simply felt… just like a cold shower.
Arsenal was looking for some kind of entrance when – out of absolutely nothing – Theo Walcott, former Arsenal’s lightning-fast right winger and the idol of many fans of the Arsenal, breaks their hearts with a goal to make it 2-0 for the guests.
This time, Odegaard makes a mistake when passing the ball in the middle of the field, it is intercepted by Southampton’s Mohamed Elyounoussi, who immediately sends the ball to the scorer of the first goal, Alcaraz, who in turn plays a great ball past Arsenal’s Gabriel to Walcott who increases the lead.
14th minute, title charging Arsenal 0, next season’s Championship club Southampton 2. What is going on…
“Walcott! After everything?! You could have missed it!”
But work is work, and love is love. Football, no matter how much we love it, is still a job in which you need to be professional.
But try explaining that to Arsenal fans at that moment.
Arsenal fans hopelessly sink, while cameramen enjoy every frame of a dejected Arsenal crowd at the Emirates.
“That’s it for title charge”, “We knew you would fall at some point”, “You don’t even deserve the title”. Poisonous words come from all sides, but I believe. I know what I was watching. I know who and what my Arsenal is.
After the past two games we had a 2-0 lead and lost it, now we have another (can we play a normal match, please?) extremely difficult game, but this time we are the ones chasing a two-goal deficit.
The road to 2-2 is paved with traps and holes, but also with a peculiar, nasty thing – Hope.
However, fortunately for us, the cameramen at the Emirates could not enjoy our misfortune for long, because only six minutes after Walcott’s goal, the left and right wings of Arsenal came together, when Bukayo Saka found Gabriel Martinelli with a sharp ball in the opponent’s penalty area, who reduced it to 1-2.
I briefly celebrate and exhale the biggest sigh of relief in my life.
Saka, who missed the penalty to almost seal the victory at the London Stadium last week, has an assist and looks dangerous. Dangerous and not at all touched by the missed penalty.
Our Starboy.
The mutual glances among Arsenal fans show the same thing.
We breathe easier.
We have an excuse for the first 15 minutes of the game.
After all the possible mental gymnastics of the last two games, the boys did not start the match properly. Complacency did its thing and took the boys into the stiffness zone at the start of the match.
But that’s over now.
After just twenty minutes, the scoreline reads Arsenal 1, Southampton 2.
Now is our time.
Like Liverpool at Anfield against Arsenal while also being true to their name, the Gunners shoot from all sides but the ball does not want to cross the line.
The referee blows his whistle to mark the end of the first half.
Three Arsenal games, three identical results at the end of the first half. Hosts 1, Guests 2.
End of first half: Arsenal 1, Southampton 2
Is it dreadful? It’s not.
Is it ideal? Definitely not.
Is it impossible to equalize? Looking at the last two matches, absolutely not.
History is cyclical, and we are certainly going for 2-2. Belief smolders in me, but also in the people around me.
After all, Mikel Arteta is not the type of person who does not know how to motivate the team.
Amazon’s documentary about the Arsenal team, All or Nothing, really showed how the Spaniard motivates his players in the dressing room.
(E)Standards are known.
This is confirmed by the Arsenal players, who spend the beginning of the second half camping in the visitors’ half.
Southampton coach Ruben Selles brings on additional defensive forces to survive the Gunners’ charge, while Arteta takes Vieira out of the game, who did not make a name for himself in Xhaka’s role, and brings on Leandro Trossard, an extremely talented striker, who has replaced the team colors of Brighton and Hove Albion with Arsenal’s red and white.
Although the game entered the 60th minute, only Arsenal is attacking, and the equalizer is just around the corner.
It’s just a question of when the goal will be scored.
Arsenal flies around the field, presses, Saka even hits the post.
“Will we score already?!”
RMS Titanic
Corner for Southampton, an excellent opportunity to counterattack and finally equalize.
Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse crosses in the ball, the first to the ball is Armel Bella-Kotchap, who passes the ball to the other side of the penalty area, and the same is caught by none other than (a very unmarked) Duje Ćaleta-Car who sends the ball behind Ramsdale and into the net.
Duje. Ćaleta. Car.
The year is 2022. October.
Arsenal had a great start to the season. In the first ten games, they have an incredible record of nine wins and one loss.
The title charge is on.
It’s time for the 11th game of the season. Southampton are waiting for them at St Mary’s Stadium. Arsenal are on a streak of eight wins in a row in all competitions.
In April 2022, they lost 1-0 at the very same place, despite the fact that they had 23 shots, and Southampton “only” nine.
It won’t happen this time.
But Southampton have someone new – Duje Ćaleta-Car.
In the eyes of Arsenal, he is the most controversial figure in the October clash – which ended in a draw, with a score of 1-1.
Arsenal fans will say without any problem that the Croatian played UFC on PlayStation more than football that match. Nevertheless, he went unpunished despite several situations due to which, according to many, he could and should have been excluded from the match.
It is he who is running with a smug grin on the field of the shocked Emirates and celebrating the goal that pushes Arsenal dangerously out of the title race.
Arsenal fans have suffered a devastating sinking with the magnitude of a certain Titanic.
“We lost”, “We can’t come back from this”, “We have lost the title”, “It’s over.”
Pessimism is taking over.
In one moment, all the joy that graced Arsenal fans, who had not felt this much love for the world for almost 20 years and met so many new friends, also Arsenal fans, disappeared.
Cameras show dejected Arsenal legends Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. They can’t believe what’s going on at the Emirates Stadium. They have been through a lot with Arsenal, but this is a whole new level.
It’s the 67th minute, and Arsenal are losing to Southampton at home with the score of 1-3.
My friends are depressed. It hurts me to see the remnants of broken dreams in their eyes, in their expressions.
I believe for the sake of myself and for the sake of them.
I know what we can do. I know what we went through in the last two games.
I believe.
Arteta reacts and takes Zinchenko out of the game, who played badly.
However, Kieran Tierney does not come in his place, but rather young striker Eddie Nketiah, who returned from injury. Before the injury he had an extremely good period of several games in which he scored and replaced the (then injured) Gabriel Jesus excellently, and brought the love from the fans to such an extent that they immediately recorded a song for him: “Your defense is in trouble, Nketiah in the room”…
…and immediately after that fell out of form and simply forgot how to score.
Arteta decides to attack the high walls the guests from Southampton put up with 5 attackers. Jesus, Nketiah, Saka, Martinelli and Trossard are tasked with bringing the comatose Emirates back to life.
However they know.
Unlike the last two matches, this time I don’t see knees trembling. I don’t see panic in their eyes. I see a fire burning. But something is missing.
Someone is missing.
Something is brewing, but it cannot come to boil – where is the DMX in you?
Arsenal tries by all means to score a goal, and Arteta and the players pump the crowd up and ask for support from the stands.
But to no avail. Over and over and over.
Bad finishing wrapped its ugly arms around our strikers.
Thousands of kilometers south of the Emirates, I think that the power of a song is one of the best tools against sadness and helplessness.
I play North London Forever on the speakers, then Tequilla, Gold, Rocking All Over The World, Arsenal We’re On Your Side…
I see no reason for my friends to be depressed. I trust this group of players.
I’ve been through Bournemouth in March… but most importantly, so have the players.
The minute is 85th. The score is still 3-1 in favour of the guests.
But this is the Emirates, and Mikel Arteta’s players are on the pitch.
There is no surrender.
All we need is a player who will turn the passion up to “11” and the factor of unexpectedness.
All eyes are on Reiss Nelson.
AFC Bournemouth and the day Reiss Nelson made us all cry
Just like against Southampton, in the March 4th clash against AFC Bournemouth Arsenal started with a 1-0 deficit within a minute.
The only difference? It took Bournemouth just nine seconds to get there.
In the 57th minute, they increased the advantage to a two goal lead, but Arsenal showed what only and exclusively Champions can show.
After only five minutes, Thomas Partey reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 62nd minute, and seven minutes later Reiss Nelson entered the game, who fulfills his duty for this club very rarely, but Arsenal fans appreciate him – after all, he is a child of Hale End, and he joined Arsenal back in 2007, when he was only eight years old.
Just a minute after entering, he assists Benjamin White, who brings the score back level. 2-2.
Nelson brought chaos to Bournemouth’s ranks. We have been waiting for him.
However, the minutes ticked away, the rhapsody of goals stopped, and the referee’s whistle to mark the end of the game was so close that we could clearly see its ugly face. We must not lose points here.
But Bournemouth did not want to drop their point at any cost either.
After the end of the 90 minutes of the game, the fourth referee marked six minutes of injury time, and in the last seconds of the match, Zinchenko tried to cross, only for the ball to get deflected into the corner.
This is the last chance to go to the dressing room with the much-needed three points.
Captain Odeegard takes the corner, and the ball somehow ends up on the volley of Reiss Nelson, who scores to the delight of the Arsenal fans and gives Arsenal the golden three points and the victory.
Delirium. Happiness. Limbs.
I jump up, screaming and shouting, and my eyes fill with tears without my consent.
This is fucking Arsenal. This is ARSENAL.
Willam Saliba doesn’t know what to do in a moment of massive happiness and kicks the corner flag, players from the bench, coaches, everyone connected with this club run onto the pitch. A hug for Reiss Nelson counts almost twenty people.
I turn towards my girlfriend, who is also an Arsenal fan, whom I forgot to hug in my ecstasy, and I see her with red eyes, wiping tears from her cheeks.
With tears in my eyes, I hug her and repeat the same words over and over again:
“We’re winning the title, my love, we’re winning the title!!!!!!”.
Reiss Gon’ Give It To Ya
Gabriel Martinelli, the scorer of Arsenal’s only goal, runs off the pitch, and Reiss Nelson comes on as his replacement.
Finally.
Regardless of the cult status he gained with the incredible goal that earned Arsenal the three points, Arteta is not using him nearly as much as he deserves. Martinelli is on that side after all.
If Reiss gets five minutes, then he has five minutes, he must use all five. Benching Gabriel Martinelli is not an easy job.
He has a fire inside him, which is exactly what Arsenal need. Someone with balls even when we are at the bottom who will remind us that this badge on the chest carries a huge weight and will fight for it until the last moment.
And that’s exactly what Reiss Nelson does to his teammates.
Just three minutes after Reiss Nelson’s entry into the game, captain Odegaard, assisted by Benjamin White, reduces the score to 3-2. Faith is awakening. This team does not give up and does not break under pressure.
The blood in the veins is burning, and the players are full of adrenaline and know that the title is exclusively and only theirs.
Not even two minutes after the second Arsenal goal, Reiss Nelson shoots on Southampton’s goal, goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu saves, and the first on the rebound is none other than Bukayo Saka, who, to the delight of all Arsenal fans, brings the match level to round up an excellently played game and clearly shows that a missed penalty cannot shake him up.
This is a new Saka, a Saka that does not break.
Saka, Arsenal’s and Arteta’s Starboy.
Two years after 2021, the roles are reversed – our pain is now Saka’s pain and he will now take us under his wing and protect us.
“There is no defeat!”
I look at my freshly reborn friends with pride and repeat the same words:
“I told you to believe! I told you!”
I believe in a turnaround. What a story that would be.
However, the Guardian Angel does not have that much strength left.
Arsenal try, chance after chance, but Southampton still take home the one point.
Panic on the streets of London
Regardless of the incredible comeback of Arteta’s players, the fans are dissatisfied and – just like the last two times – panicking.
Emotions are at a high level, and barely any people can be found with the grace of a cool head.
“Individual mistakes cost us the victory again”, “Not good enough”, “How can you concede three against Southampton”.
A gram of luck, a short smile by Lady Fortune and the cold mountain top
But, looking at the previous three matches, life really threw everything at Arsenal. From playing without Saliba, penalties, the rage of Anfield, complacency and Saka’s penalty miss at West Ham all the way to losing by two goals in the 85th minute against Southampton at home.
Of the other 19 teams in the league, you know would get out of shit situations like that? Only Manchester City, who are used to winning titles. And even they only may have pulled it off.
A gram of luck, just a gram of luck, and Arsenal would be in an extremely good situation right now and could already just barely see their own reflection in the trophy.
Arsenal are on a streak of ten games in a row without defeat in the league.
This team doesn’t want to surrender. They don’t know how to.
Every time rival fans watched Arsenal’s last three matches, expecting a defeat, they were met with disappointment.
Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, Arsenal legends and members of the iconic Arsenal 2003/04 team that won the season without a single defeat, watched the Southampton match at the Emirates and could most definitely see flashes of their unnatural perseverance.
“You do whatever you want – we won’t lose“.
The closer you are to the top of the mountain, the colder the weather gets.
The winds blows stronger.
It’s harder to breathe.
Everyone wants you to fall.
This is where champions are made.
And Arsenal keeps holding their head above water and waits for even a short smile of Lady Fortune in their direction and a triumph at the Etihad becomes very much a real possibility.
Do you know why we all love this sport so much?
Because in an unjust world, corrupt to the very core, football gives us hope. It gives us a reason to believe. It gives us a reason to get up in the morning and just get on with it, with eyes on the next match.
It keeps the fire inside us burning and turns frowning old men into giddy children when their team is doing well.
This is the power of football.
I watched Wrexham win the title last Saturday and their fans celebrate.
I cried.
But not because of Wrexham.
I cried because I looked at the Wrexham fans celebrate their first title win since 1979 and I saw us, the Arsenal fans in the near future.
I believe this group of players can win the title. I believe we will be the ones crying tears of joy come June.
And you better believe it too – God knows Arsenal players do.
(End of part 3 of 3)