Gunners firing on all cylinders

Gunners firing on all cylinders

The top of the Premier League is reminiscent of that time in our lives when an unknown football name suddenly came to prominence and Arsenal discovered a pot of gold where others were simply scrambling around for silver and bronze. It hardly seems like 20 years ago now since Arsene Wenger arrived at the old Highbury with a magic wand, the Midas touch and a unique set of footballing principles that would hold good for what seemed like an eternity at times. 

This weekend though Arsenal reminded you of a familiar mirror image of themselves where the distortions of recent times have now found much needed clarity and validation. Of course, the current day manager Mikel Arteta would never be claim to be the modern-day version of Merlin the Magician nor some supernatural force capable of creating miracles overnight. But the facts and statistics simply don't lie. Arsenal are this morning top of the Premier League a point ahead of their inevitable rivals Manchester City who already have the Ordinance Survey Map as a contingency measure should they take the wrong turning and bump into some tangled clump of weeds.

At this stage of the season the Premier League season begins to look like a charcoal drawing without any colour or paint. The sharp contours and basic outlines are still there but this is one ongoing and perhaps laborious project that is far from fruition and needs some understanding. Arsenal, for their part, are doing everything that may be required for potential Premier League champions having lost only one of their opening matches to Manchester United and even then they probably felt robbed at Old Trafford.

But Arsenal have laid down their template and it bears a remarkable similarity to their managerial predecessor Arsene Wenger. When Wenger arrived at Highbury 26 years ago Arsenal were heading towards cul-de-sacs, no through roads and nowhere in particular. We knew that under Bruce Rioch they had a military approach to training since Rioch was very disciplined and did try to convert Arsenal into patient, attentive squaddies.

Then Wenger arrived and before long a dramatic revolution had been enacted, Arsenal beginning to play like a team of highly skilled craftsmen whose relationship with a ball was much more than just a fleeting glance across a road. Wenger demanded flair, expression, a fluid artistry and a natural aptitude for holding onto a ball before patiently building blocks of passing, clever one touch passing that led to delightful goals. 

Wenger transformed Thierry Henry from a workaday winger at Juventus into one of the Premier League's greatest goal scorers of all time at Arsenal. He converted Marc Overmars and Anders Limpar into joyously irrepressible wingers who punctured gaping holes into opposing defences with their natural ability to run at defenders, turning and twisting full backs ruthlessly and unapologetically as if they weren't there. Soon Arsenal were winning Premier League titles as if they were going out of fashion.

When George Graham left Highbury he left behind him those vital pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that would also serve Wenger so admirably. The back four of Lee Dixon, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn and the outstanding Tony Adams had already won the old First Division in 1989 with that famous last gasp second goal from Michael Thomas at Anfield where Liverpool thought they'd done enough to clinch the title.

But then Wenger came along and for over 20 years the football that he'd leave behind him would be dripping with free spirited, independent thinking, open, expansive football, a game that was ahead of its time, free flowing, liquid, ostentatious, quick witted, impulsive, off the cuff and brightly innovative. It was football that had a gold-plated quality and geometric patterns that rippled across the then new Emirates Stadium like water on a lake. It had a softness of touch and flexibility that only the most deluded Arsenal fans could have dreamt of when Billy Wright was manager at Highbury during the 1960s.

Arsenal would win FA Cups, Premier League titles, and remain in the Champions League in record breaking fashion. There was the Invincibles team who would string together a remarkable 49 game unbeaten run only broken by their fierce rivals Manchester United. Arsenal were a joy to watch, a side of purist theories and a winning mentality that seemed to go on for year after year. 

Then Wenger, after an illustrious and unforgettable era left and things of course took a turn for the worse. Arsenal then began to look extremely vulnerable, fragile and naturally destabilised. The moorings had been let loose from its anchor and Arsenal began to sink into a temporary mediocrity. Unai Emery came and went rapidly and without regret. And, finally Arsenal began to see the error of their ways.

Their old midfield player Mikel Arteta had served his apprenticeship at Manchester City as assistant coach to Pep Guardiola and after guiding Arsenal successfully to a Europa League place last season, Arteta is now the governor. For Arteta this season may have come as the most pleasant of surprises since none had really expected Arsenal to be nearly as good as they now are. 

Last weekend they beat their North London rivals Spurs in a comprehensive and convincing victory at the Emirates Stadium and the feelings are positive rather than negative. The victories over Crystal Palace on the season's opening weekend, Fulham, Bournemouth, Leicester City and Brentford have fuelled the belief that anything is possible for Arsenal this season. 

Admittedly the standard of opposition hasn't been of the world beating variety and the cynics will already point out to the undeserved defeat at Old Trafford as a sign that, aside from the United defeat, the Gunners haven't really been severely tested. But there is a much closer rapport between the players and the coaching staff, a collective will rather than a disparate, detached feel to the squad. This could be the start of something extremely exciting.

The back four of Zinchenko, Ben White from Brighton, Martinelli and Gabriel further forward with Bukayo Saka, a now thriving Arsenal academy graduate who scored against Liverpool yesterday. Saka is lively, lethal, productive, hunting and foraging around for goals whenever the ball reaches his feet with a voracious appetite. The signing of Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City may prove an inspired masterstroke on Mikel Arteta since Jesus is just the kind of striker Arsenal have been pursuing since Thierry Henry, lethal up front and a goal scoring machine. 

After Arsenal had beaten Liverpool yesterday at the Emirates Stadium Arteta, the Arsenal, of course erred on the side of caution. Naturally Premier Leagues are never won at the beginning of October but the Premier League's brief break for the World Cup in Qatar towards the end of next month will probably be the ultimate litmus test for Arsenal. Injuries and losses in form could throw the whole Premier League into a harsh perspective during the World Cup but at the moment Arsenal will follow the right directions, keep their speed to a minimum and just enjoy the moment. It is good to see the whole panorama and landscape rather than nothing at all. Best wishes to the Gunners from the Emirates.