In the past, moments like Chelsea’s shorthanded goal might have sent Arsenal reeling. No longer
T
he gap at the top is five points. Arsenal have now played two of their three toughest away games of the season. They’ve come through a potentially extremely tricky week with reputation enhanced, despite being without one of their starting centre-backs for all three games and both for one of them. If there is any sense of disappointment, it is only that they failed to beat Chelsea, whom they have become accustomed to getting the better of, despite having a man advantage from the 38th minute on Sunday.
But really there shouldn’t be any disappointment. Coming out of the international break, having conceded a late equaliser to Sunderland in their previous game, Arsenal looked potentially vulnerable. Despite having been by far the most impressive side this season, their lead over Manchester City was only four points. They were without Gabriel, who probably ranks alongside Declan Rice as their most important player. They faced Tottenham, Bayern and Chelsea over the course of eight days, and Manchester City appeared to be beginning to gather momentum.
Since then they have outplayed Tottenham and Bayern, winning both games comfortably, and drawn away against Chelsea who had risen to second and may turn out to be their most serious title challenger. And that’s despite losing William Saliba for the game at Stamford Bridge. At the same time, City have suddenly lost momentum, losing at Newcastle last week and being beaten at home in the Champions League by Bayer Leverkusen, before Saturday’s unconvincing performance against Leeds, when they let a two-goal lead slip before burgling a late winner. Although Liverpool won at West Ham on Sunday, having finally dropped Mohamed Salah, defeats to Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven in the previous week give no indication of a side gearing up to mount a charge.
