Sometimes expectations and reality don’t match up. In fact, quite often expectations and reality don’t match up. Most assumed league leaders Arsenal facing rock bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers would be a walk in the park, but it was anything but.
In the end Arsenal had to force two own goals to put smiles on nervous faces — after 96 minutes of football that reminded all involved how quickly things can turn.
With 89 minutes on the clock, Arsenal players scrambled a ball out of their own penalty area as they attempted to hold onto a 1-0 lead. As the ball was returned to their opponents, home fans urged those on the pitch to close down the ball. Instead the players responded by holding their shape on the edge of the box, trying to hold out. Within a minute, the scores were level, and a bleak sense of deja vu fell over the Emirates Stadium.
Bukayo Saka stepped up again four minutes later, another of his crosses being diverted in by Yerson Mosquera to save Arsenal and make it 2-1, but that tension beforehand was indicative of a collective who are carrying the weight of three near-misses in title races.
In the three seasons that Arsenal have been title challengers, they have often been their own worst enemies. In the 2022-23 campaign, they had leads in critical games during April, only to draw three on the bounce and halt their title hopes. The following year, they dropped points against teams they were ‘expected’ to beat which proved costly in the long run. Last season, it was the mixture of injuries and suspensions that got them.
This season, the tension that comes with so much baggage, allows for strange moments to occur when they normally would not. That is not to say the that is down to one group of people, more that it feeds off everyone who participates in the weekly pantomime that is Arsenal: fans, players, management, media… everyone.
Each element fuels the other, and that is never more evident than on matchday.
That sense of nervousness was palpable even when Arsenal were 1-0 up against Brentford at the start of the month. Before they scored their second in that game, players seemed unsure about whether to chase another goal or hold onto the advantage they had. That night, the mental tug of war brought an exasperated reactions in the stands when the fourth official showed six minutes of additional time, only for Saka to score the second within a minute.
Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus react after Wolves’ equaliser (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Back in north London to host Wolves, once again six minutes were shown on the board before Arsenal scored their second.
Mikel Arteta said “It has to come from us” when asked about the atmosphere against Wolves, and did not hide his disappointment with his team’s performance.
The Arsenal manager was already shaking his head midway through a different question about his players dropping deeper in those closing moments. When it was time to answer, he said: “It’s deeper, and then we have the ball in the hands of the keeper, and we don’t play. We just kick it. This is on us, and we have to continue to play in the manner that we have to play.
“We can manage the result in a certain way, but it has to be in ourselves and we can defend it because they commit a lot of plays and there’s a moment that you cannot press them, that’s fine, but the level of activity in that block has to be very different to the one that we had.”
Arteta will be particularly disappointed by this considering Arsenal’s game management — how they control the mood and emotion of matches — was vital in their growth as title challengers. At times, they would do this by slowing the pace of a game down when away from home or starting fast at the Emirates. In recent weeks, they have not hit the right notes at the right times often enough, which allows for uncertainty to kick in.
For instance, if Gabriel Martinelli or Viktor Gyokeres put away the crosses from Declan Rice and Saka in the first half, the energy going into the second half would have been totally different.
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
“It was a relief, but a very clear understanding that the margin should have been bigger,” Arteta added. “Not being precise enough in the first half with the amount of situations that we generated inside the opposition box, and not picking the right colour of shirt on so many occasions. We had to improve in the second half in relation to that.
“I think we did it, we generated more chances to score a goal, but afterwards we had a period of two or three minutes where we were deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits, that is nowhere near the level that is required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot, the first time that they had the opportunity to do it, they scored the goal, and this is the Premier League.”
The Premier League it is, and there will be another 22 matches of ups and downs to follow. Emotion is a natural and necessary part of football, but understanding how delicate each of these these fixtures may be should help the journey to May become more bearable.
Arsenal fell to a goal in added-time at Aston Villa last weekend, yet rose because of one this week. Some may want to see certain behaviours in one moment, when others feel like another way is the best to act, all while wanting the same thing. As the season draws on, Arteta will hope that collective desire will create more excitement than tension, but recognises he and his players have to be the source of that.
Arteta and his bench celebrate the winning goal (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
After all, that symbiotic relationship between those on the pitch and in the stands is a large part of what carried Arsenal onto this upward trajectory post-pandemic, and could do so again this season.
Following a win that didn’t quite feel like one, Arteta and his players now have a rare empty week to plan for Everton away next Saturday. So, how will they use it?
“What we have to do now is reset, give them two days that they can decompress a little bit, and then we have a long week that we can prepare,” he said.
“When we don’t train, there are things that slowly deteriorate and certain habits that start to deteriorate because you don’t train them and use that opportunity to do so. Give everybody a boost because we know that the Christmas period is undefined a lot of times and we want to be on top of it.”