IAN LADYMAN: Memories of last season’s title collapse have toughened Arsenal up… but Mikel Arteta’s side must prepare for a spell that could decide this year’s challenge

It was Gary Neville who recently said Arsenal could win the Premier League by finding a way to reverse last season’s production. Nobody thought it possible. Manchester City and Liverpool were just a little too good. But an astonishing run of seven consecutive domestic wins, backed by an extraordinary 31 goals, has changed all that.

Neville’s point, made on his Stick to Football podcast, was simply that Arsenal had shown in the first half of last season how devastating they can be when they are on a roll. In the 2022/23 season, Arsenal lost only one league match before the beginning of February. Nerves – and Pep Guardiola’s City – eventually got to them, but Marcel wondered: where could they go this time when a more modest autumn and winter result could be boosted by something better once the clock went forward?

And now, suddenly, here we are. As City and Liverpool prepare to meet at Anfield on Sunday and take points off each other, Arsenal’s recent upturn in form and confidence will take them to the top of the table if they beat Brentford at home a day earlier. They already have a superior goal difference.

The 6-0 defeat of Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Monday night was beautiful for its sheer heartlessness. We’ve wondered before whether Mikel Arteta’s arsenal is too weak and soft. We asked whether they, like their Spanish coach, could become too emotional. Well, that doesn’t happen. Not now. Nowhere.

Arsenal were brilliant on Monday evening. They scored three goals in fifteen minutes, four in half an hour and five in half-time. By the time we were working full time it was six o’clock and they had stopped trying.

The Gunners hit Sheffield United for six at Bramall Lane and recorded their third league win by five or more goals in February

Just two points clear of leaders Liverpool, North London faces a period that could define their season

However, this is a new Arsenal. It is a development of the prototype. It had to change and grow if it wanted to win things. Last season taught us this and progress in this area is now detailed in their results book. 5-0, 2-1, 3-1, 6-0, 5-0, 4-1, 6-0. It almost reads like the result of a one-sided tennis match and that’s how it feels now to watch Arsenal. Certainly, they had too much speed, power, imagination and craftsmanship for Sheffield United on Monday night.

After a restart with a spell away during a winter break handed to them by their FA Cup expulsion at the hands of Liverpool in January, Arsenal now face a spell that could decide their season. They face Brentford this weekend without preferred goalkeeper David Raya, who will not be allowed to play against the club from which he moved to Arsenal on loan. They also have doubts about Gabriel Martinelli, who hurt his foot on Monday evening, as well as Bukayo Saka, who left the field at half-time feeling unwell.

Next Tuesday, meanwhile, they are one goal behind in the Champions League to overturn at home to Porto, but beyond that the promise of a 19-day break – due to their lack of involvement in the FA Cup – comes before a huge game against City on 31 March.

Arteta on Monday ruled out the prospect of taking his side abroad again, which is a shame given how well their January trip to Dubai seemed to work. They left having just lost at home to Liverpool and returned ready to sweep aside everyone in front of them.

Instead, Arsenal will now be driven partly by their own momentum. It just doesn’t look like they can lose now. But also because of the memories of last season’s late collapse.

“It was so painful,” said Martin Odegaard, one of five different Arsenal scorers on Monday night.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is keen to erase the bad memories of last season’s faulty run

“I think this is the time to show that we have learned.”

Words are easy to say. It feels like Arsenal need to beat City at the end of this month if they really want to have a say in this title race. Apart from that, their toughest other match between now and the end of the season is a North London derby against Tottenham on April 27 and with that in mind it looks like there is a path available to go down if Arteta and his players feel ready to get involved. at death this time.

Last season was too much for them and we know it. There’s no shame in getting run over by the city juggernaut. This time opportunity knocks again. Their key players are in good form and the presence of Jorginho and the fit Thomas Partey could free up Declan Rice in the striker positions where he has shown he can be so effective and dangerous.

We laughed at Odegaard and his gang as they celebrated as champions after beating Liverpool on home turf a month ago. None of this looks so frivolous now.