I've always been amused by how football fans view the fortunes of their team. Form tends to be temporary, but it's the path your team is on that is most important.
Take Arsenal. All through November and for most of December things looked bad. Arteta was relying on a group of experienced players who simply weren't delivering for him. Things looked so poor, and the trajectory looked so bad, that the 'R' word even started to get bandied about. And then, with Arteta almost forced to play Smith Rowe at home to Chelsea, the tide turned and they suddenly looked far more like what we'd been hoping to see all season.
A series of decent performances and results, and Arsenal were apparently flying. All of a sudden, even the Top 4 didn't look out of the question. And then, on the back of an extremely unfortunate result at Wolves, and an admittedly somewhat tepid display at Villa Park, Arsenal were cr*p again.
Were they really? Of course they weren't! But we all get sucked into narratives, don't we? We all know where Arteta needs to improve his squad, and the decisions and trades he is going to need to make in the summer. The team is by no means the finished article, but I think that we can now see that there is a nucleus of players around which we can expect the team to revolve over the next three or four years. And for the moment results and performances are going to be somewhat up and down.
Other fans suffer just like we do. Are Liverpool suddenly rubbish? - no, but missing van Dijk, and at the same time all of his most likely replacements, and the whole team looks out of kilter. Did people really think a couple of months ago that Tottenham were ever contenders to win the Premier League? - no, of course not; not even their fans seriously thought so. Were Chelsea, with that wealth of talent in their squad, really going to underperform so badly for too long? - again, no. Sure, it needed a change to a more experienced Manager, but the change has been instantaneous and they're now back on the sort of trajectory one might expect. That's just three examples, but I could go on.
And so we come to Arsenal 4 Leeds United 2. And who bought into the narrative, as Leeds huffed and puffed their way back into the game from 4-0 down, that Arsenal's huge lead was really under threat? I certainly didn't. But the Sky commentators - including Alan Smith, who I wish would occasionally channel his inner Ian Wright and be more bullish about his former club instead of trying to be a little too impartial - tried to make it interesting by reminding us of the Joey Barton (and Phil Dowd) -inspired 4-4 draw at Newcastle all of 10 years ago. But I was never concerned, even when it became 4-2 with a quarter of the game to go. Honestly!
And so a quick recap of the game itself, with Arteta choosing to rest Rob Holding, and to give Martin Odegaard a starting debut in place of Pepe. Ceballos was the inevitable choice to replace the sidelined Thomas Partey, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned in place of Alexandre Lacazette. Bielsa-inspired Leeds, a side known to never stop running and therefore always likely to pose a threat - their game against Everton a couple of weeks ago was the most entertaining match I've seen this season - were missing the key figure of Kalvin Phillips.
The game started with Arsenal noticeably pressing in similar style to Leeds, but always with the threat of getting exposed by their opponents hard-running. Bamford had a tame early header, before in the 13th minutes Xhaka's clever pass found Auba coming in from the left - where he had been alternating with Smith Rowe - and he did Ayling with a step-over before sliding the ball inside Meslier's over-exposed near post for 1-0.
In the 28th minute a marauding Luiz run right into the penalty are nearly led to a second for Auba - well blocked in last-ditch style by Ayling. And 5 minutes later controversy as, following a neat interchange with Odegaard, Saka was brought down in the area by Cooper. I thought it was a penalty, if not for the tangle of legs but for a push on Saka's shoulder, but referee Atwell was summoned to the screen by the VAR and ruled it out. Unusual to see a VAR decision fail to go our way, eh...
But almost immediately Meslier dwelt on the ball, lost control momentarily as Saka closed him down, and fouled our young star. This one was a clear penalty, and Auba crashed it inside the side netting with aplomb for 2-0.
On the stroke of half-time, it was three. Saka's mesmerising waltz across the penalty area caused havoc in the Leeds defence, and soon Ceballos' clever nutmeg of Klich let in Bellerin, who completed Meslier's dreadful half by beating him at his near post. 3-0, and surprisingly comfortable against a seemingly outclassed Leeds.
And Arsenal didn't ease up at 3-0, with Saka driving at the Leeds defence, and a combination of pressure on the ball from himself and Cedric leading to the ball breaking for Smith Rowe on the left. His clever dinked cross found Auba alone in the six-yard box for a simple header and his hat-trick - his first in the Premier League, incredibly.
At which point, Arsenal went into cruise control, and soon regretted it. Because Leeds do not stop working, no matter what the score is. 10 minutes later a towering Struijk header - another goal conceded from a corner; I'm not convinced by the choice of man-markers at set-pieces - made it 4-1. on 68, Costa cut it to 4-2 with a neat finish, beating Xhaka to a cut-back.
In between those goals, Arteta had chosen to replace Smith Rowe with Willian. Now, I have no idea how that change would have been greeted by a full stadium... well actually I do; there would have been boos. And whilst Arteta is doing everything in his power to kick-start the Brazilian's Arsenal career it is looking increasingly less likely that he is going to succeed. Once more, Willian was really poor, and I'd almost feel sorry for him - it it wasn't for the massive salary he is drawing. Certainly, I'd be happy to earn in two years what he tucks away every week!
And fortunately that was pretty much the end of the game as a contest, with Leeds failing to create much else, and Aubameyang just inches away from a fourth goal as his rasping shot crashed against the bar. Elneny came on for Odegaard - who'd had a tidy enough game for his first start for three months - to help shore things up. Saka continued to show his brilliance to the end - hitting the post at one point - and the only other moment of note was an injury-time collision between Ayling and Auba which resulted in a nasty knock to our skipper's ankle. Thankfully, he looked OK by the end as he strolled off with a match ball.
And so what did this match show? Well, either Arsenal are a bad team who occasionally play well. Or they're a good side who had been unlucky over the previous couple of games. Or probably something in between. From what I've been watching recently in the Premier League, Manchester City are head and shoulders above the rest, Leicester are possibly next best at the moment, and as for the rest... well, it's a pity that Arsenal have so much ground to make up to get into the Top 4, because I don't see too much else to worry about.
Saying that, the fixture list does look tricky over the next few weeks, and I suspect that whatever blueprint Arteta discovered for this game may have to be torn up for the next, which is against City. I suspect we may see Laca back in the side and Auba on the left, as it'll be important to press from the front.
Before and after City, it's away (in Rome) and home (in Athens) Europa League ties against Benfica. The world has truly gone mad!
Stay safe. And don't forget what my father always used to say: Leeds are Weeds!
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