Oliver Holt on Arsenal: I don't support them, but here's why I hope they win the title this season
What an advert for our league, and what vindication for Wenger, it would be if they hang on while playing such wonderful football
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I am not an Arsenal supporter, but I hope they win the Premier League title this season.
I don’t think they will. I don’t think they quite have the squad for it. The lack of a really top-quality striker and the absence of back-up for Olivier Giroud will count against the Gunners in the end.
I don’t think they’ll quite be able to hang on.
Chelsea and Manchester City, both capable of breathtaking football themselves, will overhaul them.
But what a story it would be if Arsenal turned out to be the pacemaker that just kept on running.
What a story if they shocked English football by winning the title in a season many thought would kill them off as a leading force in our game.
What an advertisement for our league.
What a pleasure to see the triumph of the kind of football that swept Norwich aside on Saturday.
Most of all, after being pilloried by so many for so long, what a vindication of one man’s principles.
Never mind Arsenal FC, if Arsene Wenger wins the title this season... well, what an astonishing comeback it would be.
Wenger was all but down and out.
His own fans were on his back. The Emirates had become a bear-pit. Many of those who had admired him and looked upon him as a beacon of light in the game were preparing to go into mourning.
It had got to the point where it seemed to me a matter not of if, but when, his exit from Arsenal would be announced.
The critics – and they were many – scoffed louder and louder at the idea no one could do the job at Arsenal better than Wenger.
The lobbying for him to be replaced became more and more intense.
Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Arsenal’s Champions League opponents last night, Borussia Dortmund, was the favourite to take over.
The feeling was that the gap between Arsenal and City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs would soon become a chasm.
This season was the season when Arsenal were supposed to lose touch, when they would finally accept their fate as also-rans.
And then this.
Then this wonderful, exhilarating, beautiful run of league form inspired by the purchase of Mesut Ozil and the form of Aaron Ramsey.
The feeling this is a football resurrection is only heightened by the fact Ramsey has finally returned to the player he was before a terrible injury blighted his career in February 2010.
Most had begun to give up hope on the idea he would be the same player again. Most felt it was time Wenger moved him on.
But he has played like a god this season and suddenly Arsenal are carrying all before them domestically.
For so many years, they have played like Barcelona without the trophies. Barcelona without Messi.
But the purchase of Ozil, heeding at last the pleadings of Arsenal supporters fed up with lack of marquee signings, has acted as a catalyst.
For the last few months, it has felt trophies are within their grasp again, as if they do not need to be mocked as ‘Baby Barcelona’ any more.
His arrival has inspired those around him.
Confidence is flowing through the club again.
Jack Wilshere, the scorer of Saturday’s utterly sublime first goal, is finding his way back to full fitness, too.
Then there’s Santi Cazorla, who is back in the team.
And Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the path to recovery.
They lost at home to Dortmund last night, and a tough November lies ahead.
They may yet fall away.
But in this season when there is suddenly a power vacuum at the top, it would enrich the game if a team like this Arsenal filled it.
I don’t think they will. I don’t think they quite have the squad for it. The lack of a really top-quality striker and the absence of back-up for Olivier Giroud will count against the Gunners in the end.
I don’t think they’ll quite be able to hang on.
Chelsea and Manchester City, both capable of breathtaking football themselves, will overhaul them.
But what a story it would be if Arsenal turned out to be the pacemaker that just kept on running.
What a story if they shocked English football by winning the title in a season many thought would kill them off as a leading force in our game.
What an advertisement for our league.
What a pleasure to see the triumph of the kind of football that swept Norwich aside on Saturday.
Most of all, after being pilloried by so many for so long, what a vindication of one man’s principles.
Never mind Arsenal FC, if Arsene Wenger wins the title this season... well, what an astonishing comeback it would be.
Wenger was all but down and out.
His own fans were on his back. The Emirates had become a bear-pit. Many of those who had admired him and looked upon him as a beacon of light in the game were preparing to go into mourning.
It had got to the point where it seemed to me a matter not of if, but when, his exit from Arsenal would be announced.
The critics – and they were many – scoffed louder and louder at the idea no one could do the job at Arsenal better than Wenger.
The lobbying for him to be replaced became more and more intense.
Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Arsenal’s Champions League opponents last night, Borussia Dortmund, was the favourite to take over.
The feeling was that the gap between Arsenal and City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs would soon become a chasm.
This season was the season when Arsenal were supposed to lose touch, when they would finally accept their fate as also-rans.
And then this.
Then this wonderful, exhilarating, beautiful run of league form inspired by the purchase of Mesut Ozil and the form of Aaron Ramsey.
The feeling this is a football resurrection is only heightened by the fact Ramsey has finally returned to the player he was before a terrible injury blighted his career in February 2010.
Most had begun to give up hope on the idea he would be the same player again. Most felt it was time Wenger moved him on.
But he has played like a god this season and suddenly Arsenal are carrying all before them domestically.
For so many years, they have played like Barcelona without the trophies. Barcelona without Messi.
But the purchase of Ozil, heeding at last the pleadings of Arsenal supporters fed up with lack of marquee signings, has acted as a catalyst.
For the last few months, it has felt trophies are within their grasp again, as if they do not need to be mocked as ‘Baby Barcelona’ any more.
His arrival has inspired those around him.
Confidence is flowing through the club again.
Jack Wilshere, the scorer of Saturday’s utterly sublime first goal, is finding his way back to full fitness, too.
Then there’s Santi Cazorla, who is back in the team.
And Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the path to recovery.
They lost at home to Dortmund last night, and a tough November lies ahead.
They may yet fall away.
But in this season when there is suddenly a power vacuum at the top, it would enrich the game if a team like this Arsenal filled it.
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