What a finish. Arsenal beat West Ham 1-0 in the most dramatic fashion — Raya's heroic save, Trossard's winner, VAR ruling out West Ham's 94th minute equalizer. Six more points and we're champions. Burnley at the Emirates on Monday night. This is it. The final push.
West Ham 0-1 Arsenal: Roller Coaster Of Emotions But Still Top
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| ImageCredit: Arsenal.com |
Mikel's strange tactical tweak when Benny Blanco went off injured instead of doing the obvious remains an inflection point that swung the momentum of play firmly in West Ham's favour. Mikel and his coaching crew deliberated and came up with a weird solution: Rice at right-back with Zubi coming into midfield. I can understand Mikel's thinking. Arsenal were in full flow at that point. Retain the ball. We are dominating the midfield. So no problem, right? Wrong.
The problem is, nothing is ever straightforward like that. You cannot just snap your fingers and make it work. Our midfield dominance slipped and the Hammers started to put it on us properly. Summerville and Fernández were getting a bit of joy down the flanks and Raya had to absolutely bail us out right at the death of the first half with that incredible save from the header. Mikel recognized his error at the break and swapped Rice back into the middle of the park by replacing Calafiori with Mosquera. MLS moved to left-back and suddenly we had some defensive balance again. But the Hammers were not letting go. They kept pushing and battling away as expected. The Gunners were not exactly able to reassert their authority like in the early part of the first half. It now became a case of keep plodding away and make absolutely sure not to concede a sloppy goal.
In the last 20 minutes on came Madueke and then captain Martin Ødegaard. Slowly, Ødegaard started to help knit things together in midfield and Trossard was able to break the deadlock after some brilliant footwork from Ødegaard, Rice and Madueke all contributing to that passage of play. A proper team goal and Trossard finished it clinically.
Naturally, Arsenal switched to self-preservation mode. Keep a clean sheet. Do not concede. It got nervy. It got tense. And it got dramatically chaotic with VAR ruling out rightfully, I will say it again,West Ham's supposed equalizer in stoppage time. Cue the naysayers and pundits losing their absolute minds over that decision. But in the end it was the correct call and the Gunners came away with all three points, thus maintaining their lead at the top of the table.
Three points. Clean sheet. Burnley up next at the Emirates. Another must-win game. #COYG
#TheRunIn: Six Points From History With ManCity Still Lurking
Truth be told, Arsenal should have been out of sight with the league title sewn up and in the bag weeks ago. City had dropped silly points here and there, giving us a nine-point cushion at some point going into April. But here we are. Still grinding. Still fighting. Still needing to win our remaining games to get this done.
On the flip side, winning seven games in a season by a single goal is a hallmark of defensive solidity. Arsenal have kept 31 clean sheets so far this season and just three of them were 0-0 stalemate draws against Liverpool, Porto and Nottingham Forest. That is a massive platform for a team trying to win a title and these lads are right on the cusp of doing exactly that.
It is not done yet. That was the rallying cry from Rice when the lads fell dejectedly to the floor after the narrow loss to City at the Etihad weeks ago. City may have been forgiven for thinking they had the league title wrapped up with their wild celebrations after that game, but their run-in was not as favourable as Arsenal's. Everton away proved a bridge too far for Pep's side and they dropped two crucial points there. Although they have since swatted Brentford and Palace aside by three clear goals each, boosting their goal difference and putting some real pressure back on the Gunners.
I am sure Mikel would have drilled it into the lads: you cannot go into any of the last two games thinking a draw might be good enough at this point. Obviously a win against Burnley, while not guaranteed, is an expectation. It has to be. But let us not forget that Man City could only beat Burnley 1-0 themselves a few weeks ago. Nothing can be taken for granted. Not now. Not this close to the finish line. Man City also have a tough game against Bournemouth on Tuesday. I suspect more dropped points from City because the Cherries are unbeaten in their last 10 games, although more laden with draws is that run of theirs. The good thing is they are fighting to play in Europe which is all but confirmed now. Liverpool losing to Villa over the weekend has suddenly made Champions League qualification surprisingly within reach for Iraola's boys. What a story that would be. If Bournemouth qualify for the UCL, Iraola has to be manager of the season for me, even if Arteta finally wins the league with Arsenal. Absolutely incredible job he has done down there.
Let us not get ahead of ourselves yet though. We have to beat Burnley at the Emirates on Monday night and hope the Cherries add the cherry on top for Arsenal by taking points off Man City on Tuesday. Semenyo may try to spoil the party for us. Hopefully not. We know about the drama at Real Madrid, Barca winning the La Liga title, we know Chelsea is all but in agreement with Xabi Alonso to take charge next season, we also know Liverpool is likely giving Arne Slot another shot and ManCity, we know it may be Peps last season and he wants the domestic treble on his bow.... Squeaky bum time !!
Arsenal vs Burnley Preview: Last Home Game, Six Points From Glory
Gameweek 37. Arsenal vs Burnley. The last home game at the Emirates this season. The penultimate match of the 2025/26 Premier League season finale. The title is still undecided although the Gunners are leading the charge as clear favourites now. Some pundits think this is it Arsenal finally get it done. Others think the greatest Arsenal bottle job may still be on the cards. Everyone feels justified in their hot takes at this stage of the season.
Mikel and the lads remain focused though. According to Mikel in his pre-match press conference:
"It's been extremely demanding from the beginning, but the team has coped with that in a really fantastic way. There is no other choice. We have the opportunity, and our supporters. It's going to be on a Monday night, let's take it in a really positive way. Hopefully, we do something incredible with our supporters.
"I think the fact that we've been at the top for a long time shows the level of consistency and how well the team has done. We're still there in this league, it's where we are now. More than ever, obviously, we want to finish in that position."
What I hear from that is simple: There is no other choice. We have to seize the opportunity and win. Burnley will no doubt want to play party poopers. Our preparation should be just like it was for West Ham expect a battle. Mike Jackson ( no, not the King of Pop) has made it clear his lads are not just going to roll over and let us have an easy night. They may already be relegated but are looking to fight for pride and professional respect. We have to match that and then go beyond it, we have a title to win.
The Gunners have to play with the poise and freedom that we know they are capable of playing with. Saka did not have a great game against West Ham. Now is the time to man up. This is his moment to deliver when it matters most. We may also have to put Eze on the left to accommodate Ødegaard back in the middle, or we give Martinelli a proper run out. He should be fresh from the break he has had on the bench recently. The rest of the team picks itself. We need goalsss. The last home game of the season. The Emirates crowd will be absolutely bouncing. The atmosphere will be electric. The players know what is at stake. Win this game and we are one victory away from the Premier League title. One more game after this. That is all that stands between this squad and immortality. My teams sheet would be:
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| #ArsBur |
Let us finish the job at home. Let us give the fans something to roar about. Let us take another massive step towards that trophy. Come on you Gunners. One game at a time. Burnley first. Then we deal with what happens between Bournemouth & City, maybe we dont need the title to decided on the final day, who knows? That's it from us here at #Anaijagunner HQ. Drop your predictions and starting XI in the comments below. Like and share the post. Enjoy the game wherever you are.....#COYG
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