ARSENAL may have left Nottingham Forest on Saturday night regretting a missed opportunity. The reality is they will actually never have a better chance of ending a Premier League title drought stretching back to ‘The Invincibles’ of 2004.
Mikel Arteta’s side have emerged from the weekend with an advantage stretched to seven points as the chasing pack aiming to put them under pressure stumbled badly.
Arsenal and Arteta will rightly urge caution, but the Gunners will never forgive themselves if they do not claim the crown that has proved so elusive, faced with the domination of Manchester City and the successes of Liverpool.
When every circumstance is examined, this feels like the ‘now or never’ season for Arteta’s Arsenal.
If they fail to win the title this season from such a position, the regrets will run deep. Everything is in place for a triumphant surge towards the finishing tape.
Back-to-back goalless draws has left some questioning Arsenal’s firepower but, with the tightest defence in the league and their rivals continually slipping up, it would take a brave person to back against them now.
Bigger leads have been lost at the top of the Premier League before – and later in the season – but none of the teams below them are showing signs of producing the consistency needed to challenge them.
Manchester City failed to turn up the pressure valve before Arsenal travelled to the City Ground by losing the derby at Manchester United – a fourth straight match without a win.
And then, here at Villa Park, Aston Villa saw their hopes of leap-frogging Pep Guardiola’s side into second place undone as excellent Everton secured a fully deserved win.
As for reigning champions Liverpool, they have mounted a miserable defence of their crown, Saturday’s disappointing draw against Burnley at Anfield that provoked jeers from their fans leaving them fourth, a distant 14 points behind Arsenal.
Villa had won their previous 11 games at home, but Everton threatened the decisive moments long before Thierno Barry cashed in on keeper Emi Martinez’s decision to turn a routine stop into an item for his showreel with a classy finish.
Unai Emery has been keen to play down Villa’s title aspirations, even though they have deservedly placed themselves right at the heart of the conversation. He can do so with more justification now as he said: “There are other teams with more potential than us.
“We lost a very good opportunity here, but we are having a fantastic season. We lost the opportunity to be second in the league, something very fantastic, but we must now recover.
“When you lose you are sad. When you win you are happy. We have been happy more times than sad this season.”
Arsenal have been the great pretenders to the Premier League title in recent years, finishing second in the past three seasons.
This is the chance they have yearned for. In control of their own destiny as those they will regard as rivals falter.
Arteta has an all-powerful squad, built on an air-tight defence with quality in all areas.
Arsenal may have been feeling they had left the door ajar with the draw at Forest. Not any more. It has now closed even further on those nursing title aspirations of their own.