Arsenal may have only exited the title race for about two-and-a-half hours. They were soon readmitted, reprieved by a result in Bournemouth. The prospect of an eight-point deficit to Manchester City disappeared. In a division where there has scarcely been room for error, there was now some. Arsenal’s task still seems implausible, but it is not quite impossible.
And yet they finished Saturday behind Nottingham Forest in the Premier League table after delivering their worst performance of the season in what promises to be a defining week. Newcastle, Inter Milan and Chelsea present a trio of examinations on the road and the Arsenal that Mikel Arteta has constructed seem designed with such tasks in mind. They may be Arteta’s Arsenal 3.0, the battle-hardened rebrand.
