So, the next time we see Arsenal will be on Boxing Day, when we will begin to defend a 5-point lead over Man City.
It’s the first time since 2007 Gooners can enjoy their Xmas with the team they love at the top of the table.
We have an 11-point cushion between us and 5th, having played a game less than those in third and fourth.
Remember qualifying for the Champions League was our mission statement this season.
We don’t know how the World Cup will impact on the club’s momentum.
We have to wait till January to see if our owners truly have that ambition have to take us to that next step (because this might be their best chance of bringing the Championship to the Emirates).
Until they prove otherwise, there will always be the uncertainty if our young squad can handle the pressure that is natural in April and May.
If a battle for the top 4 was too hard for some mentally, how can they then deal with the pressure of a title race?
Yet this weekend gave us hope.
What is undeniable this campaign is our players are learning all the time. As a group and individually they seem to get better every week.
We constantly see improvement.
Battling for wins away from home, grinding out 1-0 wins …… the Gunners are doing what their peers haven’t done for years.
The assumption was we would have to win on Saturday Night to be 1st during the domestic break.
That’s pressure in itself and it was fascinating to see how the youngest 11 in the division handled the occasion.
After all, if we truly want to last the distance, we have to get used to the mind games of playing before or after Man City and the various consequences.
The Champions shock loss at home to Brentford meant the pressure increased.
On route to the Midlands, our boys knew the result at the Etihad.
History tells them that City are not going to give away too many silly points, so when they do, we have to take advantage.
Suddenly even a point would have felt like a missed opportunity.
It’s like the Chase.
You want the Quiz master to get their question wrong but then you need the answer to push them back.
I’m a Gooner scared to dream only because I have been here before.
I been burnt too many times.
I have seen us throw away bigger point tallies then 5.
Danny Welbeck’s injury time header against Leicester was the last time I thought it was our destiny to lift the Prem.
As already mentioned, I couldn’t even trust this group to consolidate 4th last season.
That’s why the result at the Molineux was so significant.
Because we saw this movie before, we know how the story ends.
It would have been very Arsenal-like if hours after Man City slipped up, for us not to show up, for the attitude to not be correct, etc.
Instead, we were composed, professional and while playing at a slow pace in the first half, zero signs that the occasion was too big.
That can only help us going forward.
Every time we get over the line in these conditions it makes it that bit more easier next time.
I wait every week for old habits to creep back in, yet to my delight I’m seeing a version of Arsenal I haven’t seen in nearly two decades.
I hope everyone enjoys the World Cup
Dan Smith
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