Last season seemed to be a bit of a tipping point for the Arsenal fanbase, as many of us including myself finally changed our minds about Arsene Wenger. For years I had supported the Frenchman and pointed to the lack of money available for years and how well he had performed to keep us in the Champions League.
As more and more AKB’s joined the Wenger Out Brigade it looked as though the club would have to act, and even when they decided to stick with him we were told that there would still be changes made. The summer proved our worst fears right, though, and the start of the season gave us all that horrible sense of deja vu, but perhaps the pessimism was a bit presumptious because things have improved.
In fact, today saw Arsenal go level on points with the Chelsea team of Antonio Conte who won the title last season and who the football pundits have been heaping praise on. The fact we also beat the Blues in the FA cup final and then again at Wembley in the Community Shield in August should not be taken lightly either.
For me though, today was about more than just getting three points off newly promoted Brighton. It felt to me as though it was an obstacle, because it is in games like this when Arsenal are expected to win easily that we have often slipped up, and it was the 21st anniversary of Wenger taking over as manager.
These landmark days have not gone well for the Gunners in recent years so to get over this one and mark it with a very professional win says a lot, to me anyway, about Wenger and the squad. They are playing for him and he does seem to have given them a new focus and drive, as well as a more disciplined style which I think we need if we are to challenge.
Beating Brighton also gave Wenger the record for teams beaten in the Premier League, which he previously tied with Man United’s Ferguson on 44, which is some record, so has Wenger got over the glitch and is he still the right man to take Arsenal forward and on to glory?
Sam P.