The rise of Arsenal: Back as a true contender

Arsenal’s hopes of a league title effectively died one month ago when they lost their crunch Premier League clash at Manchester City on April 26 but as they go into their last game of the season on Sunday, the Gunners can only but look back in satisfaction at an impressive return to the top of the English game.

As runners-up, Arsenal will be playing in the Champions League next season – after a six year absence – and have re-established themselves as a major force in the English game.

Not that they were ever on the slide but this season’s second place finish ends a run of six seasons without a place in the top four.

They were last runners-up in 2016 and before that in 2005. It was in 2004 they last won the title when the ‘Invincibles’ set new benchmarks for the game in England.

Next year will mark 20 years without a championship for Arsenal but there are high hopes Mikel Arteta can return the glory days to north London, given how they pushed Manchester City virtually all the way.

The Spaniard has injected a new sense of purpose around the cub and overcome a stuttering start after first being appointed in December 2019.

Before him Unai Emery had failed to live up to the legacy of Arsene Wenger, whose 22 year spell at the club was unprecedented for the times.

It was Wenger who was at the helm of the ‘Invincibles’ of 2004, the team that is the only one in Premier League history to go through an entire season unbeaten. They won 26 games and drew 12 and is a team mostly remembered for its attacking genius. Thierry Henry was at the peak of his powers while Denis Bergkamp was nearing the end of his career but had not lost his brilliant movement or vision. Patrick Vieira was both the heart and brain of the team from central midfield with Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg flanking him.

The defence, made up of Jens Lehmann in goal, Ashley Cole and Cameroon international Lauren Etame Mayer at full backs and Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure in the centre, conceded just 26 goals.

It was an incredible achievement to not lose a single league game, made even more notable by the manner Arsenal did it. They played with supreme swagger, belief and fluency. They moved the ball at speed and with purpose, tearing through teams. Sleek, futuristic and regularly scoring sublime goals, this Gunners vintage were far removed from the ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ tag that used to haunt them.

Wenger had not only revolutionised Arsenal but the entire top flight of the English game, introducing new training, fitness and dieting regimes that forced managers across the country to follow suit and demand greater professionalism and discipline from their players.

Six months on from wrapping up the title, Arsenal’s unbeaten run was still rolling. Having won eight of their first nine league games, they were top of the table and looking well set to retain their crown. As they headed to in late October to take on Manchester United, they had not tasted defeat in 49 attempts and were keen to reach the half-century against their great rivals.

But they lost controversially at Old Trafford with Wayne Rooney scoring a double in a tempestuous affair, after which Cesc Fabregas famously, or infamously, threw a piece of pizza at Alex Ferguson in the tunnel.

Arsenal never recovered from the defeat. Although they were unfortunate to lose, the damage was done. They won just one of their next five league games, including another loss and surrendered top spot in the process. The Gunners were unable to reclaim it, finishing second 12 points behind Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.

For the next 11 seasons, Arsenal were never out of the top four but the Premier League trophy remained elusive. They were Champions League runners-up to Barcelona at the Stade de France in 2006, giving up two goals in a four-minute spell late in the game after leading for most of the contest.

But in their last seven participations in the Champions League did not make it past the round of 16. Since 2016, they have not played in the competition but return next season after a lengthy absence.

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Wenger was, in the end, hounded out by the fans who had previously seen him as a Messiah. It was sad end for a manager who might have seen the signs earlier and quit when the going was still good and his reputation intact.

Arteta arrived at Arsenal seven years after the ‘Invincibles’ season, at which point most of that squad had moved on, but he played under Wenger and has nothing but respect for the Frenchman’s legacy at the club.

“It did (cross my mind when taking the job),” the Spanish coach said of being wary of following in Wenger’s footsteps.

“But it was tiny in comparison to the excitement and the opportunity that I saw to join this club and try to do what we all wanted to do, which is to get it back to where Arsene took it at the highest level and obviously that desire was much bigger than the worries of failure.”

Now Arteta is looking to write his own legacy as the Gunners look to be firing on all cylinders again.