It has been quite an interesting and varied week for Arsenal fans in the whole, has it not? That comfortable victory over Fulham feels like a lifetime ago. Followed by the wonderful sight of Manchester City dropping points on Monday night. The euphoria of the Champions League semi-final. And all rounded off by the roller coaster at West Ham; 100+ minutes of mainly absolute torture, but with the right outcome in the end. Everything is back in these players' hands now, and Arsenal fans can get back to dreaming. Just three games left to achieve immortality.
Let's cover Monday night first. As, with the pressure on, City blinked first. Who are the bottlers now? At 0-1, I think we were expecting City to rack up the three points and maybe make inroads into the goal difference, but 13 minutes of madness - Guehi's horrendous misjudgement, 'Set Piece FC' and a bizarre third goal had Arsenal fans in rapture. Disappointing to see City peg it back to 3-3 late on, but we'd have taken that at kick-off, would we not?
And here's an interesting thought. This season, Arsenal have lost Saka, Odegaard, Timber and Havertz for significant periods, yet still remain top of the pile. Yes, City have had Gvardiol and Dias out for a while now (causing them to chuck £60m at Guehi in January, the poor souls), but the loss of Rodri for just a few matches has rendered them vulnerable and semi-impotent; half the team they are with him. Although, to be fair to him, Jeremy Doku has really stepped up.
The significance of those dropped points stretches further than the obvious mathematics. With the final 1-2% of an elite professional sportsman's make-up being psychological, that result looks likely to be a killer blow for them. Plus it also elevates the confidence of the Arsenal players. It's as if they've reached the top of a mountain pass, and can suddenly see the green valleys stretching away in front of them. As a supporter - and whilst not getting carried away - this is where I am at the moment.
And so to the second leg. Surprise from me that Arteta named an unchanged side, as I was convinced that Zubi would be back alongside Dec in central midfield. But the manager went with his gut, and MLS rewarded him with another excellent performance.
Prior to that, we saw some of the greatest fan engagement work even put together by the club - along with the admirable Red Action group. A large crowd greeted the coach as it arrived at the stadium, and the atmosphere built from fully half an hour before kick-off: all rounded off by that massive tifo (I could only see the back of it from where my seat is) and a stirring and raucous sing-song to round it off. Many more fans than usual were in their seats long before 8pm, and the place was as consistently loud as I have ever heard it! Our confidence was of course buoyed by the previous night’s result, but the hope and expectation were almost tangible.
In truth, from the moment that Starboy gave us the lead - the pre-assist coming from the excellent Gyokeres, Trossard jockeying for position to shoot and Saka pouncing on the loose ball - I don’t think that I was ever really worried. Sure, Atletico had the odd moment, as one might expect, but the Arsenal defence remained solid enough (of course, there was that one moment of panic when Calafiori's challenge would have led to a penalty if Gabriel had not already been fouled).
And once Simeone blinked and took off both Griezmann and Alvarez - deciding bizarrely to go long ball to the one-dimensional Sorloth - I think that we all knew.
For all that the statistics don't tell the full story, I thought that this was Gyokeres best game for the club. He was running into the channels with the confidence of a man who knew that he was going to receive the ball, and he showed admirable strength to hold off Pubill and Le Normand. As many duels were lost as won, but he was continually putting Atletico on the back foot. It feels as if Arteta has finally worked out how to get the best out of him. It would have been lovely for him to put the icing on the cake with a goal, but Hincapie's cross bounced inconveniently in front of him and he lifted his shot over the bar.
Elsewhere, it was difficult to fault anybody, But I'll single out a few for extra plaudits. Ben White had his best game for a considerable while. Calafiori's movement and power kept the opposition guessing. MLS showed bravery both on and off the ball. Saka made his mark in the most important of ways. And Trossard looked back to his best (we have, of course, now found out why he's not been playing well over the past few weeks).
By the end, both benches were trying to get onto the field to help, with bookings for both managers, and things got as fractious as one might expect when thinking about the characters of the two men. Extraordinary to see Simeone almost coming to blows with his old colleague, Andrea Berta. And when the final whistle went it was bedlam inside the ground.
An unusually large number of fans stayed to the end, despite the lateness of the hour, and they were rewarded by celebrations of the highest quality - both on the pitch itself and in the stands. The sight of the players running together towards the fans, holding hands, as the DJ blasted out 'Freed From Desire' was glorious. We are, indeed, on our way - although at ludicrous cost to those who do go.
And it'll be PSG in the final. A chance for revenge after last season's semi final. But we can put that on the back burner for for a couple of weeks.
A quick detour to Saturday evening, and what looks on paper like a comfortable 3-0 win for Manchester City over Brentford. But if you've seen the highlights... City should have conceded at least one penalty, and had two men sent off; Nunes and Bernardo Silva (the latter twice!).
I'm sure that they'll beat Crystal Palace, who have their minds on other things, on Wednesday, but following the FA Cup Final - a match in which I, for one, have zero interest as the two biggest cheats in English football clash - they have to go to Bournemouth. I wouldn't fancy that.
And following Arsenal's narrow win over West Ham yesterday the main prize feels even closer. It's all in Arsenal's hands. But boy; did we go through the wringer?!? And before I start, a quick mention to the West Ham fans who booed Declan Rice early on. Classy, as usual...
Arsenal, unchanged for the third game in a row, dominated the early exchanges and could easily have been three goals to the good - chances for Trossard and two for Calafiori - before Ben White received what looks like it may be a season-ending injury half way through the half. And Arteta made the most bizarre substitution at that point, choosing to bring on Martin Zubimendi and push Declan Rice to right back. As I said on a WhatsApp group or two at the time: 'What's he doing? That will upset the entire balance of the team. Just bring Mosquera on!' And the game swung immediately, as the loss of Dec in midfield meant that control was almost completely ceded to the home side. Having had 9 shots prior to the change, Arsenal had just a single further one before half time.
My concern at half time was that should it all go wrong at that point, then this strange choice might end up defining Arsenal's season - and perhaps, at a stretch, Arteta's entire career. It was a relief to see Mosquera stripped off for the second half, and of course it remains to be seen if - as Arteta said afterwards - Calafiori is really injured... Either way, Dec went back into midfield; but it barely stemmed the flow as Arsenal struggled to reimpose themselves. What looked like it would be a routine win during the first quarter of the match was suddenly anything but. Calafiori's marauding runs were certainly missed, with MLS reverting to his role of last season.
As you all know, the match hinged on 4 incidents. Firstly, David Raya's incredible save from Fenandes. It felt as if time stood still as he went through on goal via a clever 1-2, but our keeper stood up tall and forced him into a decision. His reactions to clear with his right leg from almost point blank range were astonishing; yet another brilliant intervention to add to the list.
Not long after, Trossard's goal. I'd been calling for Odegaard to come on from around 55 minutes, as I felt that Eze's low-touch game wasn't getting things done (for all his undoubted skill) and that we needed a busier player on the field. Odegaard occupies different spaces on the field too, of course, and this would also mean someone getting closer to help out the unusually quiet Saka. By the time the goal came, Starboy had been replaced by Madueke but it was Odegaard, driving into the space on the left of the West Ham defence having played a 1-2 with Rice, who cleverly lured defenders towards him before laying a perfect pass to Trossard. Who duly crashed the ball home; probably via a slight deflection, but who honestly cares? My celebrations were immediately followed by a lingering look at the clock on the top left-hand corner of the screen; and it seemed to be moving very slowly...
Special mention to our skipper here; he has had a really difficult season, and been questioned in many quarters, but he is absolutely crucial to this project and this felt like a small slice of redemption and point-proving to those who doubted him.
6 minutes over (as I'd predicted out loud to the otherwise empty room two seconds before it appeared on screen). And in the 4th of them a brilliant block from Gabriel prevented an equaliser. We've seen this countless times in the past, but this one felt huge! And the ball spun out for a corner. Last chance? Quite possibly.
Goalkeeper up. And in it swung. Something looked a bit off as perhaps more than the usual grappling commenced, and following some pinball Wilson smashed the ball over the line, despite Dec's best efforts. Utterly deflating, with prayers replacing hope.
But I'm sure that you, like me, would have been a lot more hopeful having seen just a single replay. There was definitely a foul on Raya (as it turns out, there were actually two!). The only question now was whether the VAR decision would go our way. And the fact that it took so long - and so many replays for what looked to me like a clear and obvious foul - was starting to worry me; with my pulse rate heading towards 140! But Darren England as VAR had spotted the issue, and whilst I guess that he 'chickened out' of making a decision himself and left it to the man on the field, referee Kavanagh eventually announced the good news, and all was well in the world once more.
There are, of course, numerous issues around all this. Especially noted in some of the salty reactions of fans of rival clubs. West Ham fans were rightly disappointed. And fans of teams like Spurs and Chelsea felt the need to express outrage. There were certainly other things going on in the penalty area that could easily be penalised (and there always are); although when there is more than one it's the one with the 'material impact' that takes precedence - in this case the foul on Raya.
And the thing is this; this whole situation at corners has got completely out of hand. Regular readers of this page will know that I have been calling for Law changes almost all season, despite Arsenal having been the first to master the current Laws and to have taken the most advantage of them to rack up the goals.
Goalkeepers are continually impeded. Players have their arms wrapped around each other prior to the kicks being taken, and long after too. Often, people aren't even looking at the ball! There are often half a dozen possible infringements at every single corner kick event. It's madness, and it can not and should not continue. Rival supporters are saying that Arsenal are the biggest beneficiaries of VAR calls at corners, and yet here we were moaning when a decision went against us. That Arteta - all compliments to the officials after the game - would have behaved entirely differently had the same thing occurred at the other end.
And the problem is really just as much the application of the Laws as the Laws themselves. Inconsistency from officials is what has made this all such a minefield. Bu the only really comparable one I can think of is when an Arsenal goal against Leicester two seasons ago was ruled out for the same reason as this; Ben White had his arm wrapped around their goalkeeper's, preventing him from jumping cleanly for the ball. The rest - the impeding and blocking off - is not currently against the Laws. Although it should be!
I thought that former top Referee's Assistant Darren Cann got it spot on on MOTD2. 'The main situation - the foul on the goalkeeper - was picked up and ultimately we end with the correct decision.' Nail on head. I would imagine that as a consequence of the significance of this call (completely correct as it was), things will change for next season. As they should.
Now people call Arsenal fans paranoid. Because we supposedly think that everyone is out to get at the club. But there is definitely a different agenda when it comes to Arsenal in the written and spoken media, and especially on Social Media, than there is with literally any other English club. Perhaps it's because agendas will have to completely change once the players finally win a big title, and new targets will have to be found. I know that in a much smaller way Tottenham winning the Europa League last season tore out a little piece of my soul; suddenly I had one less thing with which I could take the p*ss out of them.
And the thing about this paranoia in the Arsenal community is this; we don't think that they're out to get us - we KNOW that they are! So winning one or two trophies this season will feel great not just for the winning itself, but for getting these imbeciles off of our backs! Although, as Taylor Swift once so eloquently put it: 'Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate...' What we will be doing if and when the trophies come our way is shake it off.
Anyway, we move on. Everything is there for Arsenal now. Home to Burnley, and then away to Crystal Place three days before the Conference League Final. All in our hands, with no excuses. There's nothing Manchester City can do to stop us.
More injury worries, of course, and whilst we wait on Ben White it's probably worth mentioning that we ought to be able to cope with a makeshift right back for the final two league games. However, with PSG and in particular Khavaratskhelia heaving into view in three weeks' time, it would be really, really helpful if Jurrien Timber can regain fitness...
OK; relax. Deep breaths. As a mere afterthought, Spurs are still in deep do-do.
COYG!
