LONDON – The season-long doubts about Arsenal‘s ability to win the Premier League have mostly been dispelled thanks to their dramatic victory over Manchester United on Sunday.
Gunners academy graduate Eddie Nketiah scored the game-winning goal in the closing seconds of a thrilling contest at the Emirates, giving the home crowd renewed hope that this could be their year.
After Manchester City earlier in the day cut the lead at the top of the league to just two points, the game against United was considered as a crucial test for the Gunners.
They took the task head-on, retaliating forcefully after conceding the game’s opening goal, which was scored by Marcus Rashford, and remaining composed when Lisandro Martinez successfully negated Bukayo Saka’s second-half goal.
Arsenal, who have had their best-ever start to an English top-flight season, are currently five points ahead of defending champions City with 19 games remaining and a game in hand.
Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, exclaimed with a smile, “I don’t think it gets any better than that.”
“It was a beautiful moment, a really special one because we were pushing and pushing and pushing and the goal wasn’t coming and it came at the end… it was just electric. It was really emotional, really passionate and I lost it.”
Following last week’s 2-0 victory against Tottenham in the north London derby, Arteta expressed his hope that the outcome will give his squad confidence that Arsenal can win the league championship for the first time since 2004.
Despite a wonderful season in which they have only lost once in the league, he wants to keep his team grounded and focused.
“We know our reality, we know how much we still have to improve,” Arteta said after the match.
