It’s all too easy to get carried away when your team is in good form but there’s something undeniably different about Arsenal this season. It feels like they’re on the cusp of something special.
There were never any prizes on offer for being top of the table at Christmas, of course, and league titles aren’t decided in November but victory over Wolves last night brought this young Arsenal side to an important milestone.
I wrote in the build-up to the game about how important it could be from a psychological perspective to reach the World Cup break in top spot and we’ve not only managed it, we’ve done so having accrued a five-point gap over our nearest challengers, Manchester City.
If we’re being honest, much of what has transpired has exceeded the dreams of even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans but, now that we’re here, why stop? If the Mikel Arteta revealed to us in last season’s All or Nothing series is anything to go by, we can be sure he won’t be and this is an ambitious and hungry squad shaping up quite nicely around him.
So where does that leave our expectations for this season? I suspect a Champions League place is still the absolute priority for the club and, even a few weeks ago, most fans would have bitten your hand off for a place guaranteed in next season’s competition.
Given our own good form has overtaken events, however, I wonder would that still be the case among fans and, behind closed doors at Highbury House, among the club hierarchy?
This World Cup break can be viewed on the one hand as something of a momentum killer for a squad flying high, lifted by its own brilliance. Six weeks away from competitive action is great for those struggling at the bottom of the league but not so great for those on a bit of a roll.
What it does allow, however, is for everyone involved with the club to come together and reassess, to look carefully at what has gone before and decide what comes next. Instead of adjusting on the hoof, the manager, staff, and board can come together at length and really decide whether to hold steady to the course or aim at loftier heights.
With the January transfer window just around the corner, I wonder if it might prove the perfect springboard to accelerate our plans and, in effect, make a bid for the title. Doing so would be a tremendous gamble, of course, given that Champions League football isn’t even confirmed yet but opportunities like these, record runs of results like these, don’t come around often. In fact, for clubs not run by nation states, they are frighteningly rare occurrences. Would it be foolish to ignore that?
For what it’s worth, I think Arteta and the Kroenkes will play their cards extremely close to their chests and reveal precious little about their plans before January rolls around. The Spaniard gives nothing away in his public utterances and I don’t expect he’d want to start rocking the boat now. Whatever they are feeling behind closed doors, it’s unlikely we’ll come to hear of it.
But there’s much we can read into what they do in January versus what they say. If the manager can get his squad back in one piece and recapture some of the momentum built up this autumn, they may be simply forced to act in order to seize the opportunity. It may cost more up front than they might have liked but the dividends on offer would be obvious.
At a management level, these next six weeks, therefore, are vital. While the playing squad will either be away in Qatar competing or milling around London Colney trying to stay fit, those on the board will be doing the hard yards. It’s clear the aims and plans for this season have not only worked but have exceeded all reasonable expectation so it’s only sensible to take stock and see if and how we can adjust to where we find ourselves.
So, officially and in public, I think the plan for Arsenal is likely to remain very much ‘as you were’. I just wonder if, away from the public gaze, thoughts will be turning now towards that which was previously unthinkable…a title race.
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