ARSENAL find themselves on the threshold of creating history unlike any other Gunners side that came before them.
And when you look at it, this is in stark contrast to where Mikel Arteta’s team were just a fortnight ago – beaten by Manchester City and facing a serious likelihood of finishing second for the fourth season in a row (maybe even on goal difference).
Today they lead the Premier League by five points, having played a game more than City, and are in the final of the UEFA Champions League.
City’s draw at Everton on Monday turned the tables Arsenal’s way in the league and they fed off that to see off Atletico Madrid in midweek and reach the Champions League final in Budapest’s Puskas Arena on May 30.
It’s been a fabulous week for the Gunners and might just get a bit better.
Arteta will take his charges to West Ham United tomorrow, where they will be expected to continue their march towards an unprecedented double for the club.
Arsenal have yet to win the Champions League, or European Cup as the tournament was formerly known, but now they are just one game away from etching their own piece of history in Europe’s elite club competition. And if they hold their nerve over this weekend and two more, they’ll be league champions of England again – the first time since 2004 – more than two decades ago.
This is the best feeling Arsenal’s long suffering fans have had for some time now. But to hold on to it, they’ll need to put paid to any resistance the Hammers may be plotting.
Make no mistake, West Ham will have good reason to have a go at Arsenal. They’re stuck in the middle of a ruthless relegation scrap, where every single point is a precious commodity.
The Hammers are 18th, a mere one point behind 17th placed Tottenham Hotspur and six adrift of Nottingham Forest, who are 16th with three games to go – hence, the need for every possible point.
Nevermind the long and bitter local rivalry, Arsenal will know that relegation-threatened sides can be as dangerous as those scrapping for the title at the other end of the scale.
And it is with this thinking, and the Hammers’ home ground advantage, that some have mooted a draw as a likely outcome at London Stadium tomorrow.
For one of Arsenal’s most influential players this season, Declan Rice, this will be an emotional return.
Indeed, it was Rice who led West Ham to their Europa Conference League triumph in the final against Fiorentina in 2023, months before he joined the Gunners.
Rice certainly left an impression on the Hammers’ fans, earning them their first major European silverware since 1965.
But despite this, the England international knows what’s at stake tomorrow. And speaking to Amazon Prime Sport in midweek, he said: “It’s a club that gave me everything. Without West Ham, there’s no me. But it’s football and I have a job to do on Sunday.”
Rice’s duty tomorrow will likely be to ruffle up the Hammers’ midfield and attack, as they sit deep and wait to break away on the counter.
West Ham will have worked on their defensive structure during the week and use their pace and physicality to upset Arsenal’s momentum themselves.
The Gunners will no doubt bid to dominate possession as they so often do, control the midfield, and avoid those counter attacks, particularly towards the end when the legs get weary after the demands of midweek European football.
This, and a lot more, should add to what many expect will be a fiery London derby in which both sides have so much to play for.
