A few months ago, fans were eyeing this fixture as the stage for our glorious coronation.
This was the moment we would end 20 years of hurt and re-ascend the heights scaled by the great Arsenal sides of the past. This was to be the culmination of 10 months of blood, sweat and tears; the dawning of a new golden age for the Gunners.
This was to be the day we’d lift the Premier League trophy.
It’s with a sense of bitter regret then, that this Sunday’s match will instead bring the curtain down on a title race that ultimately saw us stumble and fall in the home straight. There will be plenty of pride, of course, and a hearty dose of appreciation for everything this side has achieved but alongside it will be a sense of deeply melancholic reflection.
We might not say it, we might not let it spoil the day but that feeling of ‘what might have been’ will linger there, throwing a little shade on our otherwise sunny parade.
Time will hopefully be a great healer, and a football-free summer will do wonders to recharge some batteries, but to have come so far and put in some much effort ultimately to come up short will sting, not only for the fans but for the players and staff too. We’ve all been so invested in this club and this story of progress.
But, look, we can chew the fat of that another day. On Sunday, it’s only right and fair that we put in one last shift to finish this season in the right way. A haul of 84 points would be a fair return on investment and we should be looking to win this game with the same sort of effort and conviction as we did on the first game of the campaign. Every point counts.
Sure, it doesn’t really matter if we don’t get all three but, at the same time, we deserve to sign-off with a win. We deserve to come away with the best possible haul of points and the maximum number of wins we could manage. These last few weeks have been pretty miserable in truth so a big win, on a sunny day in north London would be a fair way to wrap it all up.
It might even be a good opportunity to give some young legs a few minutes, some of those who might yet play a big part in our future. Although the manager rarely shows an inclination for that sort of novelty, I would hope this occasion softens his attitude enough that the likes of Ruell Walters, Ethan Nwaneri and Amrio Cozier-Duberry are given a few moments in the spotlight.
It will be a day for goodbyes and farewells too, with question marks hanging over a number of those in the first team squad; the likes of Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, Reiss Nelson and Granit Xhaka. This may be the last we see of them in the red and white and it would be nice for the fans to be able to wish them well for the future too.
First and foremost, though, comes the win and a better level of performance than we have seen in the last month. For one last time this season, I want to see the sort of football that lifted us to such heights and saw us top the league table for so long. I want to see us at our best.
We might not have crossed the line in the first place that we deserved, competing as we were against a side bloated with a decade of financial doping, but, at the start of this campaign, so few would have believed we would even make it to the racetrack.
For the last time this season, Come on you Gunners!
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