One can only imagine the number of cuddly hearts drawn on whiteboards at London Colney this week as part of Mikel Arteta’s promise to shower his players with affection off the back of last Saturday’s defeat at Everton.
“It’s very easy to be next to the players when they’re winning and performing,” Arteta had said at Goodison Park. “These are the moments when I love my players more and my staff more and we’re going to stay together.”
The sentiment was sound from a manager who, for all his touchline outbursts, seems to possess a more measured emotional intelligence when it comes to shepherding his young squad through their more challenging moments, seen clearly in the way they managed to park what really ought to have been a scarring end to last season in time to launch such a fearless charge from the start of this, one that is yet to fizzle out.
Such moments of adversity have been few and far between during an outstanding Premier League campaign so far, but with the season’s most anticipated fixture — a first meeting of the top two — looming, the need for the Gunners to bounce back from a Merseyside no-show against Brentford on Saturday is pronounced.
Results over the course of this weekend will dictate the complexion of Wednesday’s clash of champions Manchester City and the contenders at the Emirates. Beat Brentford, and leaders Arsenal will go into that game knowing a draw would be a fine result, preserving a healthy gap to the chasers with the advantage of a game in hand.
Were they to drop points at home against Thomas Frank’s in-form side, however, City could well be in a position to seize top spot with a win, though that is provided they can put an even more chastening week behind them by beating Aston Villa on Sunday. Having seen rivals Spurs deliver an unexpected favour in beating City last weekend, Arsenal fans will this time be leaning on an old friend in former manager Unai Emery.
His successor, Arteta, does not need reminding of last season’s costly habit of setbacks turning into slumps. Three defeats in a row started the campaign with a crisis, before the abject run of successive losses against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton in April set up a needlessly tight finish in the race for the top four. Back-to-back reverses at Tottenham and Newcastle ensured the Gunners limped home in fifth.
By virtue of their good form, this season’s sample size is mercifully minuscule: Arteta’s side responded to their only previous League defeat, at Manchester United in September, with a run of four straight wins, starting in the reverse fixture against tomorrow’s opponents and taking in showpiece triumphs over Liverpool and Tottenham.
Arsenal left Old Trafford, however, scratching their heads as to how they had come away pointless, an impressive performance if not enhancing their early title credentials then certainly not discrediting them either. The journey home from Goodison last weekend would have felt altogether more different, Arsenal deservedly beaten, having been bullied by a Toffees side suddenly infused by Sean Dyche’s arrival, with the same energy and resilience that have been so central to Brentford’s own brilliant season so far.
Frank will no doubt have studied the Dyche blueprint intently this week. The Dane has the players to create a similarly intense midfield battle, though finding a way to double-up on both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli will be more of a puzzle for a manager who has tended to play with wing-backs and a narrow front two against the best opposition.
Perhaps due to being far from the only unfamiliar presence at the top end of the division, Brentford’s recent run has, if anything, gone underplayed. Frank’s men are sat in a European place, unbeaten in nine games, having last lost a League game in mid-October and will travel to the Emirates full of belief, not least because of their outstanding record against the ‘big six’.
The Bees have so far beaten United, Liverpool and City, and taken points off Chelsea and Spurs. Only Arsenal remain unscathed and, with City up next for the Gunners, keeping it that way looks nigh-on essential.
