Just over a month ago, the murmurings began. A 2-0 away win at north London rivals, Manchester City suffering a derby defeat the day before. Eight points the gap. They couldn’t, could they?
Skip forward to Wednesday night, as Erling Haaland fired home City’s third, and Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League was no more.
If a month feels a long time in today’s unrelenting footballing world, Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad will now appreciate that better than most.
There can be no period of reflection, no time to lick the wounds. Arteta must rouse his troops immediately. Just three days on from that crushing defeat lies Saturday’s tricky encounter away against Aston Villa, a team now managed by his predecessor Unai Emery.
Arsenal’s title chances are not scuppered, far from it. But Saturday’s fixture lends itself almost perfectly to that narrative. Emery, the former manager – the man initially tasked with Arsenal’s post-Wenger revival – returning to further dent their table-topping credentials.
The task for Arteta is to ensure a different movie script plays out at Villa Park. For all the wind that may have been taken out of Arsenal’s sales in this winless February so far, this is still a side that, prior to this month, had lost just once in the league.
At their best, the north London side are still a frightening opposition. In the game against City, they showed just that in the intensity and confidence with which they hunted down an equaliser. The victory evaded them but they are still comfortably one of the Premier League’s best two sides. Nothing has changed in that regard but the game on Saturday may be just the occasion to banish such demons, those inklings of doubt, and remind themselves of that fact.
That is not to say the task they are confronted with will be an easy one. Villa under Emery have lost just three times in the league since he took the hot seat in early November. During the Spaniard’s return to the Premier League, only four teams have accrued more points than his well-drilled Midlands side.
Their recent uncharacteristic 4-2 defeat to Leicester aside, Emery’s Villa have looked steady and controlled – a far cry from the final days of Steven Gerrard’s tenure. Impressive wins over Manchester United and away to Tottenham and Brighton are key indicators that, on their day, anyone can be troubled.
They may be circumspect in approach but Villa will come bearing the tools to hurt Arsenal, none more so than Ollie Watkins who, with three goals in as many games, has reminded the Villa Park faithful why it was Danny Ings who had to make way in the January transfer window.
Arteta himself has problems to solve. Jorginho’s first start for Arsenal was unremarkable but the Italian will do well to replace the hole left by Thomas Partey’s absence. The instrumental midfielder – absent against City – faces a race against time to be back in the line-up for Saturday lunchtime, and against a combative Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz his absence may be sorely felt.
Gabriel Martinelli’s recent form represents another area of concern. The Brazillian is goalless in 2023, an eight-game run that has seen January signing Leandro Trossard stake a claim for a starting berth with a goal off the bench against Brentford. The former Brighton man won’t be content to wait in the wings and his cameo auditions so far may tempt Arteta to bring the Belgian into the fold from the start against Villa.
There were times early in his tenure when it looked like Arteta would fall to the same fate as his predecessor, Emery. That now is not the case. But Saturday’s task represents a different kind of challenge. Manchester City breezed past Villa 3-1 last weekend and Arsenal must now do the same. To keep up with Pep Guardiola’s side requires near-perfection, and over the first half of the season the Gunners produced that.
Now, faced with their first wobble, Arteta must remind the circling doubters how far his Arsenal side have truly come.
