Arsenal - when the kids are grown up

"It's like a quiz show where a contestant has 10 seconds to name three countries that start with the letter A and the ticking of the clock gets louder and louder in their heads. Even knowing dozens of answers. , the sound of the countdown still makes the brain freeze", The Atletic compared when evaluating Arsenal's countdown for their remaining 10 matches on the 2022-2023 Premier League championship race.

The question is, can Arsenal withstand the pressure to maintain their current form until the end of the season, or will they suddenly collapse in the remaining time? But so far, Altta's army has taken control of the situation in an admirable way. After three consecutive defeats, Arsenal lost 0-1 to Everton, 1-1 to Brentford, and 1-3 to Manchester City. Since early February, Arsenal have won the next six rounds in various circumstances. They worked hard to score in stoppage time, beating Aston Villa 2-4 in the 90th minute and Burnmouth 3-2 in the 90th+7th minute. But they also won 1-0 against Leicester, or 4-0, 3-0 at Fulham, 4-1 at Crystal Palace.

At various points during the win over Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal looked as if they were fully enjoying the game. This is an admirable attitude with a young, unappreciated team, but suddenly led the championship race when in April. According to Opta, Arsenal even had the youngest squad in the Premier League this season, with a mean age of 24.6.

Arsenal's current situation is very different from the last time they won the English Premier League - in the 2003-2003 unbeaten season. The "Gunners" at that time possessed a seasoned team of 30 years of experience or more such as Dennis Bergkamp, ​​Lehnman, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, Robert Pires, Ray Parlor... and the stars were in full bloom. like Patrick Veira, Thierry Henry, Gilberto Silva...

Therefore, despite Arsenal being eight points more than second in the Man City table, many experts believe that the lack of experience on the championship track can be detrimental to the "Gunners" in the sprint. Knowing what it feels like to face the very specific challenges of balancing in the most intense moments of the game is clearly a useful late-season asset, but that's not the strength of the episode. youthful body in Artea's hands. Therefore, compared to strong candidate Man City, who have conquered four titles in the last five seasons, "Gunners" are like rookies or dark horses of the tournament.

"When I first joined the club, I realized on the pitch that we had everything to achieve great things," Zinchenko said after the win over Man Utd in January. "I started saying in the dressing room that ' Forget the top 3 goal, we need to think about the title.' Some of them are smiling, but now no one is smiling."

Besides the duo of former Man City players mentioned above, the Arsenal squad also has seven other champions. The latest is Jorginho - midfielder who landed at Emirates Stadium for a total of $ 15 million in the last day of the winter transfer window. The Italian midfielder has not won the Premier League, but has won countless other titles. At Napoli, he won an Italian Cup and an Italian Super Cup. While at Chelsea from 2018-2023, he won four titles, including a Champions League, a Europa League, a European Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup. The 31-year-old is also a key player in Italy's Euro 2020 winning team.

Former defender Jamie Carragher believes that Jorginho's history of winning many major tournaments and calm playing style will be useful for Arsenal in the Premier League race this season. Arteta also emphasized experience as an important factor for him to choose Jorginho, after missing the number one target of Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny have won many titles at Basel. Similar are Kieran Tierney at Celtic, Thomas Partey with Atletico Madrid, Leandro Trossard with Genk, Fabio Vieira with Porto. Gabriel Magalhaes was also a member of Dinamo Zagreb who won the double - the Croatian league and cup in the 2017-2018 season, even though he was just a young player and did not play much.

These players understand what lies ahead of Arsenal and have their own knowledge of what each experience has to offer to the team. Meeting a Palace who just fired coach Vieira is not the harshest test for Arsenal at the end of the season, but every Arteta player who played at the Emirates that day showed solid spirit.

There's a little Xhaka situation that shows just that. The Swiss midfielder was busy and did not show complacency in the brief moment of rest at the end of the game to make a substitution, when Arsenal led 4-1 and secured the victory. He kissed Gabriel Martinelli when the junior striker left the field, then ran to Jorginho's position for a quick chat. He then immediately showed Tierney the spot where the Scotland defender would take the throw-in.

That shows the mentality of a leader. Xhaka's influence was also evident in the moment the crowd at the Emirates applauded and applauded as the midfielder got up and was able to continue playing, after a hard collision and lying on the pitch. half one.

A glance at Arsenal's bench in the win over Crystal Palace adds even more weight to the shared experience within the team. Names like Jesus, Jorginho, Tierney and even Emile Smith Rowe - who took over Mesut Ozil's No. 10 shirt and just returned from four months of injury, or even Reiss Nelson - who flashed with a diagonal leg to help Arsenal fixed a 3-2 reverse victory over Bournemouth earlier this month. This list shows that Arteta has a lot of options and can swap squads so they don't lose momentum

This is probably Arteta's best and thickest team since returning to the Emirates Stadium in a new position, and every player wants to play. Tierney - who lost his place to Zinchenko at the start of the season - was a prime example when he came on after just an hour.

Martin Odegaard - a 24-year-old midfielder who has grown tremendously in his role as captain - always wants to make an impact on the game and encourage those around him. Bukayo Saka and Martinelli - two spearheads that have been raised and become irreplaceable elements in Arteta's tactical scheme - continuously shine from match after match. This trio are difference-makers and seem unafraid of that responsibility.

"Sometimes it's very difficult, but the reward at the end of the season is the goal for us to be determined, to give our best," said Saka. "We have faith and desire to win, and nothing can stop us."

Undoubtedly, Arsenal will experience more stress and difficulty in the remaining ten games. In particular, the "Gunners" must be guests in five matches, including two difficult matches against Liverpool at Anfield on April 9 and Man City at Eithad on April 26 - a great battle that is considered to determine the English Premier League title. this season.

But Arsenal are also expected to play with outstanding determination. They have reached 22 wins in the Premier League this season - the same number as last season. This is also the record number of victories of the "Gunners" through the first 28 rounds in the Premier League. Those results put Arsenal in a more favorable position to aim for their first championship since the 2003-2004 unbeaten season under the legendary manager Arsene Wenger.

The international series that has just ended also brought bright signals, when the pillars all played well and returned healthy. Partey was cared for by Arsenal's medical staff and played only one game for Ghana. Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe and Karl Hein all gave excellent performances. Tierney, Zinchenko rounded shoulders, Odegaard continued to play stably and fortunately did not get injured.