Arsenal go into their Premier League game against Wolves on Thursday night knowing victory could go a long way towards defining their season.
Their poor performance in the Premier League last season meant there was no European football – be it Champions League or Europa League – to look forward to this campaign.
Their 1-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest in early January meant their FA Cup campaign was over before it had even begun.
Their 2-0 defeat on aggregate by Liverpool last month meant the Carabao Cup was not to be either.
All of those things were a disappointment. But all have also focused the minds at Arsenal. Their objective this season is obvious and singular.
The Premier League is the only thing left for Mikel Arteta and his players to aim at. A top four finish is still well within their grasp.
After 23 games, the Gunners sit sixth with 42 points. Yet the quirks of a Covid-hit fixture list means they have three games in hand on the two sides directly above them, West Ham and Manchester United.
One of those comes this evening at the Emirates Stadium, against another rival. Win it and Arsenal will go into fifth, a point behind United, with two games in hand.
That would be a huge psychological step and the importance of which is not lost on Arteta himself.
“I think they know,” he replied in his press conference when asked if the players understood the importance of the Wolves match.
“They know what every game means for us. We know how close it will be right until the end, we’ve seen a lot of different results that you don’t really expect.
“We play at home and the importance of getting the points when we play at home is going to be crucial to get to the destination.”
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As Arteta also acknowledged, Wolves are a tough nut to crack. But, encouragingly, one which they have already succeeded in cracking recently.
The discussion after the 1-0 win in Wolverhampton on February 10 was dominated by a bizarre red card for Gabriel Martinelli and a sly dig from Ruben Neves at his opponents, but its importance was clear.
Arsenal showed they had the mettle to win ugly with their backs to the wall. They have since backed that up with a 2-1 win over Brentford.
And after two of their rivals spent the mid-week playing in the Champions League, Arsenal must take another important step towards doing so next season.
Arteta was clear when asked on Wednesday whether he missed experiencing the apex of European club football.
“I do a lot, because as a football player I’ve experienced it and it’s one of the best feelings you can have,” he said.
“To be surrounded by opponents that are the best in the world and challenge yourself and evaluate yourself against that type of opposition.
“Then as a club you play in a competition that brings the club that brings them into a different dimension, different stage, different impact and a competition that is very attached to the history of this football club.”
Arteta knows better than most about Arsenal’s recent history in the Champions League, having been a part of the generation of players who last competed in the competition for the club.
When the Spaniard retired from playing in 2016, he could not have predicted that the Gunners would play just one more season in the Champions League before entering the wilderness.
Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were Champions League regulars: from 1998 to 2017, they qualified 19 times in succession – an English record and one which is only bettered by Real Madrid.
They had to do with four seasons in the Europa League following that, before they finished eighth in the Premier League in 2020/21 and were left without even that – or a place in the newly-formed Conference League.
Win against Wolves and Arsenal could be on the way to finally ending that sustained spell of mediocrity.
