Heading into the most important four days of its season, Arsenal was spiraling. That's a relative term, because the Gunners were still in first place in the Premier League (via goal difference) and had escaped Madrid with a 1-1 draw against Atlético in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal. But! Manchester City was riding high domestically and had closed the points gap, looking great while doing so, and Atlético is a frisky opponent to get rid of, no matter the locale. Arsenal looked on the verge of collapsing, something that filled onlookers with dread or glee, depending on rooting interests. Simply put, these past four days had to go exactly Arsenal's way, or the growing panic would turn into blaring alarm bells.
Good thing, then, that these past four days went almost as well for Arsenal as any Gooner could have hoped for. Starting with a confident, necessary, and dare I say entertaining 3-0 demolition of a very good Fulham team on Saturday, the three results Arsenal needed to go its way did.
On Monday, City had what was probably the toughest fixture left on its Premier League run-in, an away trip to 10th-place Everton. Despite scoring first, City looked uncomfortable in the role of the hunter, and Everton quickly took control back over a five minute period (68th minute to 73rd) where both Thierno Barry and Jake O'Brien scored; add in Barry's second goal in the 81st, and Everton might as well have polished off the trophy and delivered it to North London. City didn't go away quite so easily, and a quick response by Erling Haaland in the 83rd set the stage for Jérémy Doku's thrilling late, laaaaate, equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time. It's a beauty, and it at least helped prolong the idea that there is still a title race:
Even with Doku's goal, though, City only managing a draw against Everton has to have taken some of the pressure off of Arsenal. Whereas before Mikel Arteta might need to set his team up to score as much as possible for the sake of goal difference, over-committing players forward at the expense of his otherworldly defense, now a series of boring 1-0 wins will be enough to secure the first Premier League trophy at Arsenal since the Invincibles of 2004. Even a draw in one of Arsenal's final three games would leave some wiggle room, but I'd wager on some of the nastiest Artetaball (and I mean that both with a bit of disgust and a lot of admiration at its efficacy) carrying the day.
On Tuesday, the last piece of this crucial puzzle jammed into place and must have relieved the last bit of anxiety at the club. Entering Tuesday's match, Arsenal had yet to lose in the Champions League this season, and had only given up six total goals in 13 matches. Six! In 13! That's disgusting (complimentary and derogatory), and it's also wildly successful. I don't think Atlético had any shot to actually advance once Arsenal got back home with the tie leveled at 1-1 on aggregate.
Wouldn't you know it, that's about how things went. Arsenal held enough of the ball to make Atlético work in defense, then silenced every whisper of hope that the visitors had of scoring. Arsenal didn't show anything new or exciting in attack, but Viktor Gyokeres had a fantastic game holding the ball up and making life hell for the Atlético center backs, while Bukayo Saka got back to enough health that he was able to A) start and B) pounce on a loose ball in the box to score the only goal on the night:
Saka's goal took the air out of the match, as Arsenal is the hardest team in Europe to score on, and doubly so when it has a lead. Atlético had maybe one good chance worth discussing, but Giuliano Simeone (Diego's son) completely misplayed a ball in the box, aided by an inch-perfect Gabriel tackle, and nothing came of a golden opportunity. Instead of any Atléti glory, this was one more example of who Arsenal is and how ruthlessly the side can annihilate all hope in an opponent. There's not even all that much to say about how the Gunners did it; the defense was stellar, the midfield was compact and demonic in the hunt for the ball—Declan Rice had one of the best defensive performances from a midfielder that I've ever seen at this late stage of the Champions League—and the attack did just enough. It was perfectly Arsenal, in other words, and that's why the Gunners are off to their first Champions League final since 2006.
Is it win or bust there? I don't think so. Arsenal should likely be the underdog against either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich, whoever survives that holy attacking war on Wednesday. Sure, Arsenal already beat Bayern 3-1 in the league phase back in late November, but I feel confident in saying that both clubs on the other side of the bracket are peaking at the moment, and whoever comes out of that semifinal will have nuclear levels of confidence. In either scenario, the question will be whether Arsenal's defense, so good so often this season, can keep out one of the top two attacks in Europe, and I for one am excited to find out that answer. Regardless, it's safe to say that the odds will be against a tired Arsenal, and there should be no shame in losing the final if that comes to pass ... provided the club doesn't go out there and shit the bed like Inter Milan did last year, at least.
And if Arsenal wins both competitions? Well, shit, there's nothing to do there but shower the club in praise. After years of finishing second in the Premier League in a variety of painful and comical ways, Arteta and Arsenal's board set out to right some squad wrongs (Gyokeres might have disappointed on the whole, but he was still a reliable fixture in the starting lineup, and Eberechi Eze gave Arsenal some direct attacking firepower), and tactically doubled down on the strength of the defense and the power of set pieces. It hasn't made for the prettiest campaign to watch, but Arsenal, in the years since its last Premier League title, was so often obsessed with aesthetic concerns over results that it's almost fitting to be on the doorstep of glory once more while playing in a diametrically opposed fashion.
There's still time for everything to fall apart, but the way Arsenal has played, and the way that it has kept putting the pressure on opponents, has made it so that only a march to the finish line stands between the club and the prize it has craved for over two decades. If there's a Champions League trophy to go along with that, then all the sweeter, because this Arsenal team was built, above all, to win trophies. The Gunners are so close to that goal, thanks to four glorious days.
