Unified Arsenal overwhelm Liverpool to announce themselves as the team of the Premier League’s future

Mikel Arteta perhaps put it best. When you come to the Emirates Stadium now you are going to experience something together. What was once a house divided is now delivering a communal experience that is elevating its participants to levels they might have believed unimaginable in the recent past. The latest example was the impressive 3-2 win over Liverpool on Sunday.

Not so long ago Arsenal were the league’s laughingstock, a never-ending civil war whose origins were unclear, its end unimaginable. You were with Arsene Wenger or you were against him. Mesut Ozil, Nicolas Pepe, William Saliba or AFTV was the answer to or cause of the problems that bedeviled the team on the pitch.

No one other than Arteta believed he could harness a united Emirates Stadium. Even he seemed destined to fall into the morass. The battle lines drawn during the rebuild remained right into this season between those who could see it paying dividends and those who expected Arsenal to strive for greater than just qualifying for the Champions League.

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There might even be those who don’t believe in the Arteta project now but they increasingly resemble Hiroo Onada, abandoned on an island to fight a war that is long since lost. Even Ozil trusts the process.

There is unity at Arsenal at last. It is a propulsive force. The Ashburton Army in the Clock End are its ringleaders, since supporters have returned to stadia they have dragged a crowd once renowned for being old, white male and ever more disenfranchised. Suddenly your Apple Watch pings with warnings that the sound levels have gotten a bit too loud in these parts. “Around 30 minutes at this level can cause temporary hearing loss”. What is a whole season going to do to the Emirates?

It was once said that this ground could not hold sound, that in the early 2000s stadium architects did not quite appreciate how to keep the noise within these four corners of north London. In which case one might need to advise those making their way along the Holloway Road on matchdays to invest in earplugs.

It was quite instructive to hear from Matt Turner that he thought supporters might have been taking the mick on Thursday night when they serenaded him with cries of “USA! USA!”. Not in the slightest. Everyone gets a chant in these parts and it won’t be long before the Emirates is breaking into it. In the case of the infuriating earworm that is William Saliba’s chant to the tune of The Champs’ 1958 smash “Tequila,” you might appreciate it if they struck up that tune rather more infrequently.

Arsenal and Liverpool have delivered breathless entertainment before at this ground but it has tended to be played out in front of skeptical supporters. The home team could take the lead but the crowd were already waiting for the moment they would throw it away … and rightly so. Right now nothing quells the Emirates. A goal is merely an invitation to get louder.

“Thank you so much to the boys and our supporters for experiencing [an] afternoon like this,” Arteta told CBS Sports. “It’s what our profession is about to live days like this and I really enjoyed it.

“I’ve never seen [the atmosphere] like this. You cannot imagine how much it helps the players and how much it gives them. One of the nicest things we’ve done since we are together here is to unite everybody and make them feel like when you go are you going to experience something together.”

One might even go so far as to argue that Arsenal are at their best when they have just conceded, as they have done at every Premier League game at the Emirates Stadium this season. The manager, the crowd, the players all seem to swiftly conclude “it’s fine, we’ve got this.” So far they have been proven right every time. And so after Darwin Nunez turned home after 34 minutes the hosts responded by getting back to the level that had seen them rip through Liverpool on their way to a 58-second opener through the irrepressible Gabriel Martinelli.

He would lay the second on a plate for Bukayo Saka (via Gabriel’s impudent dummy) and could have had a fair few more goals and assists. For once Jurgen Klopp didn’t use a press conference to eulogize on Martinelli, he was shellshocked by the damage the young Brazilian had done to his right flank. In what was arguably Arsenal’s worst 45 minutes of the season a 21-year-old talent ran rampant through one of the great powers of English and European football.

The Gunners improved swiftly in the second period, aided by the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold. His withdrawal didn’t solve Liverpool’s defensive difficulties down that flank but robbed them of their best ball progressor. Losing the vibrant Luis Diaz, who left the Emirates in crutches and a knee brace, in the first half did not help much either and Roberto Firmino’s second equalizer felt resolutely against the run of play. This game was chaotic and dramatic almost to the end but Saka was determined to apply order to it, taking the ball and flying at the weak spot that was Kostas Tsimikas. He would go on to deliver the killer blow from the penalty spot after Thiago had felled Gabriel Jesus. 

Since missing that penalty in the Euro 2020 final, Saka has delivered match-winning strikes from the spot against Chelsea, Manchester United and now Liverpool. 

“The boy didn’t hesitate to continue because he believes he can take them and under pressure, he really enjoys that responsibility,” said Arteta.

Maturity beyond his years, the same that was shown as the league’s youngest team held off its second oldest (and perhaps wiliest) with relative ease in the final 14 minutes.

Perhaps that is what has Arsenal supporters so delirious. If this is what Saka, Martinelli, Saliba look like in their early 20s how good could they be in three or four years? They might have been chanting “we are top of the league” at the final whistle but there is a sense that the good vibes are less about pipping Erling Haaland and Manchester City at the post come May but where this team could go if they are able to grow together over the next half-decade and beyond. This feels like the start of something in north London and the fans are very much along for the ride.