After the ecstatic scenes of five straight wins, all that raving on the terraces, losing at Manchester United was a crashing comedown. The defensive wobbles there, the raging at officialdom and the missing of clutch chances had been an Arsenal story often told.
Brentford, by contrast, soon became a Sunday session for their supporters, mixing up old-school anthems with the latest hits as their team returned to the top of the league. Though Manchester City’s Erling Haaland-inspired menace grows week on week, Arsenal are enjoying life at the top while they can. Do Arsenal fans trust Mikel Arteta’s process? The bond the match-going contingent shares with his players feels stronger than with any Arsenal team for many a year.
