It was tempting to pinch himself when Rob Edwards, invited to talk about the rivals who got past his Luton side on Wednesday night, singled them out from other title hopefuls. “Perhaps of the three teams currently competing, they are the only team that can play every game,” he said. “If it’s a physical play, if it’s a football game, if it’s a running play, whatever it is, there’s an answer. “They have the personalities to play either way.”
Relating to: ‘I’m ready to fight for this’: Zinchenko thinks results against rivals give Arsenal confidence
Edwards was really talking about Arsenal and it’s hard to imagine such a rave applause for their evolution. Although not vocally vocal, they have been seen as a potential soft touch among rivals for years. In the last decade of Arsène Wenger’s reign their football was hugely attractive but often felt maddeningly lagging behind due to the dogma that there was an “Arsenal” way to win games and trophies. These were often pleasant to watch, but Mikel Arteta, four and a half years into the job, has changed what that compliment entails. It means a lot that this season’s offensive and defensive records eclipse everyone else.
“I don’t know what that means to play well,” Arteta said on Friday. “It’s always beautiful with the ball, it’s beautiful without the ball, it’s beautiful when you have to play in certain areas and spaces of the pitch: with what kind of intensity do you play beautifully? In the end, what matters is how you compete and how you make life difficult to beat your opponent.”
Arteta had talked about putting “ideology” aside in the boring but hugely useful draw at Manchester City earlier in the week. He has now elaborated on that thought ahead of a trip to Brighton, which brought its own challenges. In fact, the best football for Arsenal at this point would be the football that wins the Premier League for the first time in 20 years. This will require drilling through opponents when they are at their best, but it will also require rolling up your sleeves, getting in and showing a more pragmatic attitude when necessary.
“Every game requires different things,” Arteta said. “Some teams try to tell you to play a certain play, and when they tell you, you have to play the best way possible. When you have the adaptability to do that and still be better than the opponent who is playing that play, then you have a huge advantage. We have to play every kind of play.” said.
Sometimes when you’re stuck in a quagmire, the only way out is to win the mud war. Arsenal are now capable of doing so, with Declan Rice’s presence ahead of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhãoes completing an imposing backbone. Despite all this, Arsenal have tended to go clean: 44 yellow cards are the lowest among any top-flight team.
“We probably didn’t talk about it that much and maybe that was a factor,” Arteta said, half-joking about their disciplinary record, suggesting it had now become commonplace for his players to voice fears about the risk of a yellow or red card. self-fulfilling in the past.
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Arsenal may need something of all the qualities Edwards has identified if they are to return from the south coast with their current levels of satisfaction intact. Brighton may be some way behind last season’s excitement as they finished sixth, but no one in Arteta’s orbit needs reminding them of the 3-0 defeat at the Emirates last May that effectively guaranteed Manchester City the 2022-23 title. “A good day of learning, that’s what I would say,” said Arteta, with the great benefit of hindsight.
Brighton can once again hurt Arsenal with their football, and it feels like the sort of mission where the away side’s physique, which was far less evident a year ago, could provide a platform for Martin Ødegaard and his side to shine with their attacking ferocity.
Arteta was asked whether Arsenal had redeveloped the aura last seen when opponents lining up in the cold, narrow corridors of Highbury were fatally injured before entering the pitch. “Watching the Avengers in the tunnel, playing in a different jersey, and I had this feeling: ‘This is going to be really tough tonight,'” he said. “Hopefully we can create that. I think it will be a very positive thing for the team.”
Arteta played for the Everton team that lost 7-0 at Arsenal’s former home. Perhaps when his current team went on a remarkable goal-scoring run between late January and early March this year, the sense of inevitability left a similar feeling to some of the players lining up against him. They could be wrong, as evidenced by the fact that Bukayo Saka’s absence would be a significant blow if he is not made fit to play at the Amex Stadium; but their managers feel they are well equipped to handle whatever comes their way over the next six weeks. “The team has matured,” Arteta said. “They’ve found their own rhythm, their own leadership, their own way of managing things.”
Arsenal’s mix of all seasons feels well-equipped to crown the most convincing campaign of the last two decades.