How many of us saw three straight wins coming after the abject defeat at Southampton in April?
After a hat-trick of damaging defeats that culminated with a whimper at St Mary’s, it looked like we had squandered a golden opportunity to force our way back into the Champions League.
And, with Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham to come, it could so easily have gone from bad to worse for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Barely a fortnight and nine points later and we find ourselves back in the driving seat again, our stumble recovered and the home straight rapidly coming into view. The race isn’t quite run yet but we’ve put ourselves into a fantastic position. It’s ours to lose now.
I don’t think anyone will deny that circumstances favoured us for the trip to the London Stadium, with our hosts treading a fine line between Premier League responsibilities and a crucial semi-final second leg upcoming in the Europa League.
With just a few days’ rest and bigger fish to fry, West Ham played like a team that was both tired and distracted – and we took advantage.
It was by no means easy, however. Injuries and unavailability have left our squad threadbare and we continue to walk a tightrope of our own in that respect. The return of Takehiro Tomiyasu has been incredibly timely but the continued absences of Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey leave big gaps in our squad – ones that have not easily been filled.
That said, the replacements for those aforementioned have been excellent – Mohammed Elneny in particular has been reliable, consistent and fuss free next to Granit Xhaka and allowed the likes of Martin Odegaard to do some excellent work in attack. He was again quietly brilliant on Sunday.
Rob Holding, whenever called upon, has also been outstanding and came into the fold on Sunday in place of the injured Ben White – coming away with his first Premier League goal and the three points to boot.
While it would be difficult to say we ran the show against West Ham, we were largely comfortable and never really came under the sort of pressure that might have changed the game.
Both creating and maximising chances continues to be a problem though and that is unlikely to change between now and the end of the campaign. Taking chances where we can will be vital therefore, and so it was on Sunday as both centre backs netted – a rare enough occurrence in recent times.
Ultimately, then, our success at West Ham was about the contribution of the whole squad and that, arguably, has been the defining factor in our season so far. Everybody has pitched in. We’ve been made to suffer on many occasions in this campaign but, when our backs have been to the wall, the group has pulled through.
With no quick return in sight for Partey and Tierney, that deep well of collective spirit is going to be vital. The squad has maneuvered itself into a great position through sheer force of will and, with just four games left to play, it’s going to need every ounce it can muster.
The hard work of getting our noses in front has been done, now we must stay there. Victory over Leeds at the Emirates this weekend is obviously a must ahead of the north London derby but nothing can be taken for granted. We can’t afford to slacken the pace.
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