Arsenal the champions in waiting but doing it the hard way

ByAlex HowellArsenal reporter at the London Stadium

This season hasn’t always been easy on the eye, but Arsenal are now on the brink of their first Premier League title in 22 years.

The Gunners were made to sweat yet again in their dramatic 1-0 win over relegation-threatened West Ham, with Leandro Trossard’s score and a disallowed West Ham goal the difference for Mikel Arteta’s side.

The vital victory stretched Arsenal’s lead to five points ahead of Manchester City, who have a game in hand, and put league silverware in touching distance after three successive second-placed finishes.

Some will say Arteta’s side have got here the hard way, while others will argue victories secured when a team does just enough to get over the line is the mark of champions.

The 1-0 win over West Ham was the seventh time this season Arsenal have won by that scoreline in the Premier League.

It wraps up what has been a crucial week for the club, with title rivals Manchester City dropping points in midweek.

Before the win over Fulham last weekend, Arsenal had won just two of their previous eight games in all competitions and suffered back-to-back defeats in the league for the first time during those matches, too.

But now after three successive wins without conceding a goal, one of which secured their place in the Champions League final, Arsenal are on the cusp of history.

“What a moment, what an afternoon, what a week it’s been for us,” Arteta said.

“So full of emotions, I cannot praise enough the attitude, the desire, the courage and the quality of the team shown throughout this week, because there was so much at stake and today we knew against a team that is fighting for their life, a club with an incredible history, how tough it was going to be.”

Image source, Getty Images

The closing stages of the match with West Ham were nothing short of chaotic.

David Raya produced a vital to deny Hammers midfielder Mateus Fernandes when he looked certain to score, before Trossard’s intervention and the major VAR call that chalked off Callum Wilson’s stoppage-time effort for a foul on Raya by Pablo.

Arteta called the disallowed goal one of the “most chaotic circumstances”, with both teams “playing for their lives”. But he heaped praise on referee Chris Kavanagh for his decision.

“A call from the refs that I think is very brave, but very consistent with what they’ve been talking about all season. And today I have to praise them, at least for giving the option to a referee to decide.

“Away from the lights and the chaos, to give clarity to him to make the right call. And when you look at the action in that way, I think it is an obvious error.

“So congratulations because they made a big call in very, very difficult circumstances.”

Arteta has regularly said that his ‘finishers’ – the substitutes who come on to finish the match – have a big part to play, and on Sunday he backed this up by highlighting captain Martin Odegaard’s “incredible impact” in assisting Trossard’s winner.

“I said to the boys, we’re really going to go for it. So get ready, because if the game is not panning out in the manner that we [want], we’re going to have to change it,” he added.

Image source, Getty Images

In a side chasing the Premier League and Champions League double, it is not often that their goalkeeper is in the conversation for player of the season.

But that is the case for the Gunners and Raya.

Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in 18 of their 36 league games this term, more than any other team in the Premier League.

And with his display against West Ham, Raya has secured the Golden Glove award in the Premier League for the third season in a row – with three games to go, he cannot be caught at the top of the rankings by any of the division’s other shot-stoppers.

Raya has kept 27 clean sheets in 49 appearances in all competitions this season and has been called the “best goalkeeper in the world” by his team-mates for his performances.

“He has helped us a lot this season,” said match-winner Trossard.

“You can see his quality and the amount of saves he can do, and different ones too. A lot of credit to him for keeping us in the game.”

That sentiment was backed up by Arteta, who could not say if Raya’s to deny Fernandes was his best of the campaign because of the amount of impressive stops he has made.

“When you talk about magic moments, this is certainly one of the most needed moments as well to pull off with that , it was incredible,” Arteta said.

Raya now has the fourth best goals conceded per match ratio of goalkeepers to have played at least 100 games in the Premier League – 0.79, behind Petr Cech (0.72), Edwin van der Sar (0.76) and Ederson (0.78).

And with the personal accolade now wrapped up, Raya and Arsenal will hope the Premier League trophy will be next to head to north London.

It is now very clear what Arsenal have to do – win their final two games and they will be Premier League champions.

Their remaining matches are at home against already-relegated Burnley and away at Crystal Palace on the final day of the season.

But with the Eagles in the Conference League final, which is after the Premier League finishes, there is a chance Arteta’s side could be facing a weakened team as Oliver Glasner rests key players.

The Gunners have played 60 games this season in all competitions and their 42 wins and 70% win rate are the best of any season in their history.

They are just three wins away from winning a club first Premier League and Champions League double.

“I don’t need to explain what is at stake, everyone knows,” Trossard said.

“Two very important games from us, and we have all the belief that we can do it, but we have to work hard to get three points in the next games as well.”

• Premier League
• Arsenal
• Football

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