Eddie Nketiah struck in injury-time to hand Arsenal a huge win over Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday, evoking memories of the giant clashes between these old rivals that dominated the early Premier League era.
Twice the Gunners were set back against a wily United side and twice they rose to the occasion with a barn-storming, tub-thumbing, gut-punching masterclass to claim the win.
Truly, we are the league’s new mentality monsters.
Much more than just a front-foot team, feeding off confidence and momentum to bully lesser opponents, we are a team that can take a blow, slip a punch and come back fighting twice as hard. Even against arguably the league’s second best team we were able to dig deeper, find more resolve, more hunger, and produce the sort of reaction that only the best can. It was inspirational stuff.
Credit to Erik Ten Hag’s United side, they have undergone a sweeping transformation of their own, but even they were unable to withstand the tidal wave of pressure they ultimately breached their defences.
Almost to a man, it was stirring stuff from the Arsenal team. In what was arguably their sternest test of the season they refused to be cowed. Led by the heroics of Oleksandr Zinchenko, the Gunners kept plugging away, kept believing, and shrugged off any and all setbacks to claim the win their endeavour deserved.
Victory moved Arteta’s men five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the league, with a game in hand that could see them move eight points clear again soon.
Amid a pulsating opening to the match, it was in-form Marcus Rashford who struck first with a sublime shot from distance that was too hot for Aaron Ramsdale to handle. It’s not often Arsenal have gone behind so early this season but they were remarkably unfazed and were quickly back on terms as Nketiah rose highest to nod home a pinpoint cross from Granit Xhaka.
Further chances followed but the Gunners were unable to make their opportunities count as United held firm going into the break.
The Gunners kept up the intensity of their attacking efforts into the second half and their efforts paid dividends as Bukayo Saka’s exquisite shift-and-hit evaded the despairing dive of David De Gea and nestled in the corner of the visitor’s goal. He really did have Luke Shaw on a piece of string all game and it was no surprise to see Fred was brought on late in the match to do a job on our number seven.
There was still life left in the match, though, and Lisandro Martinez restored parity barely six minutes later as he found himself in the right place at the right time to nod home a ball spilled by Ramsdale.
Rather than allow themselves to be deflated, however, Arsenal threw everything into forcing a winner and there were more than a few presentable chances spurned before Nketiah’s brilliant piece of improvisation saw him finish from close range after Odegaard had deflected the ball goalwards.
Cue scenes of utter rapture, the like of which you get to experience so rarely as a football fan. A genuine moment of the season and one that even VAR was unable to ruin.
The Sunday night match is always a painful wait, particularly after you’ve watched your rivals win, but it was worth every moment of delay. This was another huge win in a season that has been typified by huge wins. We have come so far as a side and continued to find new levels with every week.
There is still so far to go in this title race and much they might still go against us but at least so far, we have answered every question put to us and solved every puzzle. It’s that sort of mentality, that monster mentality, that powers championship seasons.
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