Hands up if you remember the nerve-shredding, sweat-educing toil of the mid-Wenger years?
The bizarre conceded goals, the reckless abandon in attack, the glaring misses, heroic comebacks and ecstatic late winners – it was a simultaneously wonderful and terrible time to be an Arsenal fan.
In those days, it wasn’t uncommon to feel a sense of draining emotional exhaustion after games and I confess to feeling a sense of nostalgia on Saturday when we clinched the most dramatic of late victories at Villa park. It had all the hallmarks of Arsene’s best.
Chief among those maddening Wenger-esque traits was the concession of soft goals that seemed to arrive out of thin air. Teams that had failed to hit a barn door all season suddenly produced the most ruthless finishing masterclass you’ll ever see. When Ollie Watkins opened the scoring for Villa this afternoon, it all came flooding back.
And, no sooner had we fallen behind than another Wenger-era relic arrived; utter footballing dominance. Credit to the Gunners, they responded superbly to falling behind to Villa and fashioned a slew of chances before they eventually levelled through Bukayo Saka.
Not content with the solo homage to the great Frenchman, however, the Gunners then produced a second; with Villa producing a pretty smart back-to-front move to retake the lead late in the first half. Two efforts on target, two goals – it was pleasingly reminiscent of times gone by.
With his side behind, the half-time team talk from Mikel Arteta would surely have been one of the biggest of this season – and possibly his managerial career to date. I must confess, I led the calls for changes at the break simply because of how flat we had finished the half. Having taken the lead, the team the ground to a halt again, slipping into the sort of slow, predictable and sloppy play that is easy for set defences to play against.
The manager stuck to his guns, however, and, to their credit, the Gunners were better in the second half. As Villa prevaricated, unsure whether to stick with their lead or go for broke, Arteta’s men took control and, in yet another tribute to Arsene, created a host of chances you might reasonably think it harder to have missed than score. Indeed, Eddie Nketiah and Martin Odegaard were particularly guilty of spurning some gilt-edge opportunities that might have spared us the spike in blood pressure.
Villa and Unai Emery shuffled their pack and, in fairness, started to look dangerous as they set up for the sucker-punch. Had it not been for Aaron Ramsdale and the woodwork, that may have managed precisely that.
As it was, the Gunners saved their final homage to Arsene for the dying embers of the game, with Jorginho producing a sublime finish to force a third, with a little help from Emi Matinez’s bonce. That deep into injury time, and with safer options available to him, you have to pay tribute to the Italian for the confidence and execution of the shot. He won us the game and, in doing so, paid back a huge chunk of the money we stumped up for him in January.
The breakaway fourth from Gabriel Martinelli was icing on the cake late on to cap a remarkable comeback and an enormous win.
After the run of results we have endured this last fortnight, I can’t stress enough how much of a relief it was to get a win on the board again. There’s no doubting we have suffered in this run and one would be forgiven for fearing this match was about to turn a bad run into a nightmare, our lead evaporated and our confidence left in tatters.
Instead, we can reflect on an absolutely huge victory, one that forced us to dig deeper than at any other point in this campaign. The full extent of it won’t be clear until the dust of the season has started to settle but you can be sure this victory was vital.
It was a victory right out of the Wenger era and one that would have made him proud. It feels good to be back.
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