North London Forever
Arsenal are on the cusp of history
"Some things in life are worth waiting for."
- Danielle Steel
As of today, Arsenal sit seven points clear at the top of the Premier League with eight games remaining. They have a Carabao Cup final at Wembley in a few weeks. They’re through to the FA Cup quarterfinals. To top it off, they just completed a flawless eight wins in eight matches in the Champions League league phase, beating Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, and Inter Milan along the way. Plus, they have a clear path to the semifinals after a favorable draw.
The quadruple is within reach. You have to knock on wood after saying it, but it’s time to whisper it out loud.
No English club has ever done it. However, there is still a real possibility that the season ends with zero trophies. There is still everything to play for.
The Invincibles
In May 2004, Facebook was called thefacebook.com and was a small website only available to students at Harvard. The Boston Red Sox were still in the midst of their 86-year World Series drought. Everyone wanted a Motorola Razr, and American Idol was a TV hit.
Thierry Henry was sprinting around Highbury, turning fullbacks into statues. Patrick Vieira was patrolling the midfield like a nightclub bouncer. And Arsène Wenger was pacing the touchline in his puffer jacket and red tie.
Arsenal went the entire Premier League season unbeaten. They were nicknamed the Invincibles. They were the benchmark; the gold standard. If I were to tell an Arsenal supporter back then that they would still be waiting for another title, they wouldn’t have believed me. But they’ve been waiting ever since.
I recently read a comment on social media from an Arsenal supporter who made a deal with himself that he wouldn’t wear his 2003/04 Henry shirt until they won the Prem again. He thinks this is the year he’ll finally be able to wear his Invincibles shirt once more. Hopefully, it still fits him.
The dark days
After 2004, Arsenal spent the next 22 years winning the occasional FA Cup while watching Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and even Leicester trade the league title among themselves. The Gunners moved from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, which forced the club to enter a self-imposed financial austerity that meant they couldn’t compete in the transfer market for top talent.
During the title drought, Wenger left. Then Unai Emery came and went. Finally, there was a brief Freddie Ljungberg appearance as an interim manager before Mikel Arteta was brought in.
During Arsenal’s time from winning a title until Arteta, they were still very good. They averaged over 71 points per campaign and usually finished in the top four. However, this is Arsenal. It’s not Brighton or even Tottenham. Supporters expect trophies and Premier League titles.
Arteta’s rejuvenation
Arteta took over Arsenal as a first-time manager on Boxing Day 2019. Arsenal were 10th in the table and looked nothing like a club with serious ambitions.
He inherited a dressing room with poor culture, an aging squad, and a fanbase that had lost trust in the institution. Over the next four years, he systematically rebuilt everything. He brought in the right players and adjusted his formation and tactics to fit the personnel he had.
Arteta slowly built a team that could defend from the front, create from deep, and stay compact and disciplined defensively. Arteta’s teams are a complete reversal of the technically gifted, but easily bullied Arsenal sides of the 2010s.
The transformation Arteta has created at Arsenal doesn’t look that much different if you look at the final points tally and position in the final table. In fact, during his time, Arsenal has finished slightly worse in the table than before he arrived. However, it’s the manner in which he has been building towards this season. Progress is visible. The team continued to push and work its way up the table.
In 2022/23, Arsenal sat eight points clear at the top of the table with nine games remaining. It really did look like the wait was finally over. Then they blew two-goal leads against Liverpool and West Ham in back-to-back games, the first time Arsenal had ever done that in the Premier League era. They also drew at home to bottom-of-the-league Southampton, and got humbled 4-1 by City at the Etihad.
In 2023/24, the Gunners pushed City all the way to the final day, finishing just two points behind despite picking up 89 points, their highest-ever Premier League total. That year, they scored 91 league goals and held the best defensive record in the Premier League. They did almost everything right, but it still wasn’t enough.
In 2024/25, injuries and a red card epidemic derailed their campaign. Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Riccardo Calafiori, and Gabriel Magalhães had injuries that tested Arsenal’s depth. They dropped plenty of points from winning positions and couldn’t sustain a long run throughout the entire season, finishing 10 points behind Liverpool.
Three consecutive title challenges. Three consecutive failures. The mental weight of that was and still is real. Everyone is just waiting for a late-season collapse this season. But it hasn’t come yet. Arsenal are the clear favorites to win the League. Winning isn’t a distant hope anymore. It’s actually something that is starting to feel like a reality.
This year’s Arsenal is different. For one, they have true depth. They have added players throughout the squad who have been able to step up without a drop-off. Additions such as Martín Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Piero Hincapié, and Viktor Gyökeres have given the Gunners much-needed options when players go down with injuries.
Arsenal’s set pieces have also become a key aspect of their game. Though they are mocked in the media, they have put away the most set pieces in the Premier League this season. A goal is a goal, no matter how it comes. This article does a great job of breaking down Arsenal’s set-piece strategy.
Arsenal’s defense continues to be one of the best in the world. William Saliba and Gabriel have become one of the best center back pairings in Europe, and Timber is arguably one of the best right backs right now. David Raya is also good for at least one big save per game.
Arsenal certainly aren’t perfect, but they know how to win. And that’s what makes them one of, if not the best, team in Europe at the moment.
On the cusp of history
The quadruple has always felt like an impossible achievement in English football. Manchester United won the Treble in 1999. City matched it in 2019. Liverpool came agonizingly close in 2021/22, winning the League Cup and FA Cup before losing the Premier League on the final day and the Champions League in the final. Arsenal are closer to it right now than any English club in history, yet zero trophies is still a dark possibility.
The big one, though, is the Premier League. Just get that, and the 22-year drought hanging over the club will be over. Just win the Premier League, and nothing else will matter.