Arsenal played some exciting brand of football as they challenged for the English Premier League title last season. But for a late collapse which saw them capitulating painfully, and allowing Manchester City romp to a third consecutive title, they would have won it for sure.
The Gunners showed class, resilience and fortitude as they held on at the top of the Premier League for 10 months as hitherto strong contenders Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and the others struggled to keep pace with a series of indifferent results.
But a combination of factors from injuries, manager Mikel Arteta's naivety, and insufficient depth ensured that the Gunners missed out of ending their almost 20-year wait for another title since the Arsene Wenger 'Invincibles' of 2004.
However, on their way to finishing second to book their first UEFA Champions League ticket in years, Arsenal showed an imperious form against clubs, particularly those domiciled in London.
They had virtually the upper hand against London clubs like Chelsea, Tottenham, Fulham, West Ham and a host of others who they either beat home and away or drew against in all the fixtures. They had no record of losses against such teams last season.
The best fellow teams got were draws and nothing more.
But this season, the Gunners are fast discovering it is no going to be business as usual as the same London clubs are not prepared to be rolled over in any encounter especially in the league.
Fulham was the first to send the message early in the season as they forced the Gunners to a 2-2 draw. The north Londoners had been leading comfortably until they allowed poor defending rob them of all three points as they were forced to share the spoils.
The same thing happened again in their match against a revamped Tottenham Hotspur side, which despite losing their most valued talisman, Harry Kane to German Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich have maintained their cutting edge in front of goal.
The Gunners learnt a hard lesson in complacency when a late rally by Spurs ended a match they should have won 2-0. A less timid Spurs had poured forward after conceding two early goals to Arsenal in their September fixture to run away with a 2-2 after South Korean striker Son Heung-min scored two goals.
For the comebackers, it was a much better result than what they came away with in a similar fixture last season.
And, it didn't seem any lessons had been learnt as they visited the Stamford Bridge to confront Chelsea last Saturday.
Unlike in previous case where they squandered comfortable leads, it was the Gunners who were, this time, caught on the back foot as they conceded two quick goals.
In what analysts described as a "game of shoddy goalkeeping and fluke goals," the Gunners found themselves chasing the game against the Blues who were determined to rewrite the script of their poor start to the season, having just won thrice in eight games before the encounter.
Well, luck finally smiled on the visitors as the duo of Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard saved their blushes, scoring in the 77th and 84th minutes in a game they were looking set to lose.
The Gunners had made the most of a brief loss of concentration at the Blues' rear to strike the blow that got their visiting fans at the Stadium's away end into a frenzy.
But even the fans knew that it could have been different had Blues' right back, Malo Crust hadn't switched off momentarily to allow Trossard sneak in from the outside to sidefoot a Bukayo Saka cross to equalise.
The Gunners remain unbeaten this season and have been touted by pundits to repeat the run that saw that challenging for the title last season. However, their chances of achieving their aim of doing that rests on their ability to hold off their city rivals who will eternally relish the prospects of dimming such hopes.
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