It was billed as Arsenal’s biggest fixture for a decade, an opportunity to strike a blow in the battle for our first Premier League title for almost 20 years.
You could be forgiven, then, for expecting Mikel Arteta’s side to come out fighting, to give it every ounce of energy and grit they could summon – in short, to perform like a side competing for the biggest prize in English football.
In the event, however, we saw none of the above. There was only fear and trepidation, a side overawed by the occasion and cowed by an opposition that played like it expected to win.
The contrast between the sides couldn’t have been more stark. City were slick, smart and brimming with confidence. Their passing was flawless, their movement was perfection, their finishing ruthless when it needed to be. They adapted to the perceived threat Arsenal offered and produced a response that was simply too good in every respect.
Arsenal couldn’t hold the ball, couldn’t find a pass, couldn’t win their duels, couldn’t apply or withstand pressure – it was death by strangulation and there was nothing they could do to fight it.
The Gunners were smothered by the enormity of the occasion and the sheer quality of their opponent. And, look, everyone knows how good City have been since the turn of the year. We all knew this match was going to be a huge ask, an overwhelmingly difficult task, but the way we went down, with barely a whimper, was devastating.
We surrendered our hold on the league title not with blood and thunder, not with guts and glory – we surrendered it all like scared children, like a team that knew it was beaten before the whistle was even blown. It was miserable watching. City slipped in and out of top gear at will, it was an exercise in absolute footballing control.
It’s probably true that the league title wasn’t really lost last night, it was lost a few weeks ago as we surrendered a two-goal lead at Anfield when we had Liverpool on the rack. That capitulation precipitated everything that has followed. All of the doubts and all of the fear crept into our game that day and we simply never recovered. This City humbling was a long-time in the making but that didn’t make it any easier to take.
It’s not really worth talking about individual performances on the night because there’s the team was universally bad. From Aaron Ramsdale to Gabriel Jesus, the players were far, far below the heights we have seen them hit this season and far below what anyone would consider acceptable in a game of this stature. There really is nothing more to add.
All we can do now is look forward. For me, the league title is done and dusted. Manchester City are simply too good and too confident at this point and I see absolutely no chance they drop a single point between now and the end of the campaign. Stopping them winning the treble seems a near-impossible task and they are performing like a group of players who know as much.
From an Arsenal perspective, it is essential that we stay as close as possible to City. Not because I believe there is a hope we may yet usurp them, more for our own confidence, our own belief and to do justice to ourselves. We deserve to finish strongly, we deserve to score lots of goals, record lots of wins, and accrue a huge haul of points.
There would be nothing sadder at this point than capitulating to a run of defeats at the end of what has been an exhilarating campaign. We are better than that. To that end, these players need to get their heads in order, rid themselves of the fear that has consumed them and start delivering the sort of football we know they are capable of.
We, as fans, deserve that much. We deserve their 100 per cent because, for the entirety of this campaign, they have had ours.
That starts again next Tuesday with the visit of Chelsea. We need a big response and we need it now. Chelsea must be put to the sword.
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