How Arsenal are changing: new team, new directors, new belief

By Tony Attwood

• Sun newspaper vanishes into wild weird fantasy land of a curse

The victory yesterday was of course, a triumph.  It made it three straight undefeated games in the Premier League, including beating two of the expected top seven this season.  It made it six goals scored and two conceded.  And in between, we also had a League Cup and a European win.  And we are top scorers in the league and have the best defence in the league.

And yet with all this, the media still had doubts, and quite possibly still do have doubts.  Here’s the table in case you need it…

And in many ways, that is the trouble with supporting Arsenal  – the difficulty that so many people have in celebrating good results.   Of course, we are not top of the league, but given that Liverpool have been called invincible by some in the media, we’re not doing too badly at the moment.   

Of the game, Arteta said, “To get to the next level you have to learn from the past, and we have certainly taken some lessons from this ground. But today the team took our game to a different level, and I’m very proud. Newcastle are a terrific team, and it’s so difficult to play against them.”

Eddie Howe talked about the second-half knee injury sustained by Tino Livramento, and the media lapped it up, forgetting the huge number of long-term injuries Arsenal sustained last season, which most of the time they hardly bothered to mention at all, in case it sounded like making excuses for coming second.

And all this while Arsenal had a big boardroom reshuffle too, not that we notice them that often, but it’s good to know they (the board) are doing something, even if it is just adjusting the name plates in front of the seating in the boardroom. Tim Lewis has left the board after a couple of years as executive vice-chairman, and the media described Tim Lewis’ departure as “sudden.”   But that just means their inside informers were kept out of the loop; it doesn’t mean it wasn’t arranged months ago.  Besides, Josh Kroenke has attended every Arsenal home and away game this season except one.  It is not as if he is an absentee landlord.

And so in effect we now have Josh Kroenke as the power within the club, which has probably always been the intention since the Kroenke’s took over Arsenal in 2018.  Indeed, given JK’s strong support for Mikel Arteta and sporting director Adrea Berta, this must now mean solidity and mutual understanding at the top.  And it also reduces concerns over the fact that Stan Kroenke is now 78, and might be getting a bit tired.  Indeed, since that is exactly my age too, I can tell you I know how it feels.  

Arsenal’s next match is on Wednesday at home to Olympiacos who themselves have been unbeaten throughout September, followed by a very rare 3pm Saturday match at home to West Ham.  It is quite possible that Arsenal could win both (although we have no chicken eggs here waiting to be counted, so I am not predicting), while Liverpool have Galatasaray away in the Champions League and then Chelsea away in the Premier League.

That Chelsea could put on a decent show against Liverpool next weekend might be a bit much to ask of them, but they have scored 11 goals this season in the league while Liverpool have conceded seven (twice as many away from home as Arsenal in fact.)

And just finally to round the weekend up, here’s the league table for London clubs.  I publish this not because I support anyone other than Arsenal, but simply because I do have a constant affinity to the city in which I was born and lived much of my life.    There are seven London teams in the Premier League, as per last season, although Tottenham did make a valiant effort to go and experience life in the second tier.   If only Charlton, Queens Park Rangers and Millwall would get themselves together, we would hardly need to leave the capital.