It was only Wigan. But a win is a win.

That victory takes us to 41 games played across all competitions, 31 wins, just 3 defeats and 90 goals scored. We have won 75.61% of games this season. It is incredible, but it could also be nothing if we do not convert our great form into trophies.

Was interesting to see Bukayo Saka playing more centrally yesterday. It is a position where I think his future lies, especially as Max Dowman continues to develop.

Saka is certainly a different option to Martin Odegaard there. More forward thinking. Capable of picking up the ball and unleashing a shot in one movement. It is certainly something I would like to see more of when teams are defending deep against us.

And by playing Saka inside, teams will then drop narrower which should free up space for Noni Madueke and the right back outside of him.

It was good to see Marli Salmon and Tommy Setford get on the pitch. Both are still only teenagers, so we need to give the time to develop and not overhype them. But it is hard not to tecognise their talent.

At just 16, Salmon looks like a rolls Royce of a defender already. Quick across the ground, strong and a superb reading of the game. Let’s remember that William Saliba did not “finally” start playing regularly for us until he was 21, whilst Rio Ferdinand was 19 when he began playing week in week out for West Ham. We have another 3-5 years of watching this guy develop. At that point he could be ready to take over from Gabriel (who will be 31-33). Still a long way to go though.

Setford is als thought highly of at the club. And just 19, he has another 3-4 years of development ahead of him. That would take David Raya to 34/35.

I would say Setford should be looking at a loan deal next season to a League One or Two club. Get regular game time and get that body strong. Salmon is probably too young to be going on loan, and we should keep developing him mentally and allowing physically, allowing him to grow from boy to man.

A good victory. In the bag for the 5th round. And it is mid-February and we are competing on all 4 fronts. Not sure when the last time that was?

Keenos

Tough draw, especially after taking the lead. But away to Brentford was always going to be a hard fixture.

Going into these mid-week fixtures, they were 6th in the league and in decent form. The had lost just twice at home, and conceded 13 goals.

It is interesting that the narrative is “will Arsenal’s end-of-season form haunt them again”. This really is lazy journalism from the BBC, fueld by “banter” social media accounts. It also continues to the recent trend of BBC Spot becoming more “casual” and”dumbed down” in their reporting to reach a new audience.

The “Arsenal have bottled the last 3 seasons” really is a false narrative designed to farm hits, clicks and advertising revenue. The truth is very different.

2022/23 – small squad and not expected to win the league. We stumbled in the last 9 games of the season. But it is often forgotten that Man City went on a 16 game unbeaten run, winning 14 and drawing 2 as the hunted us down and eventually won the treble.

2023/24 – in the last 18 games of the season? We won 16, drew 1 and lost 1. 49 out of 54 points. That is incredibly good end of season form and a period that we actually closed the gap on Man City, despite them winning 15 out of 18 games (3 draws) in the same period. City needed a 23 game unbeaten run, with 19 wins and 4 draws to stay ahead of us.

2024/25 – Liverpool were ahead of us for every week bar one (4th game of the season). 11 games in the had opened up a 9 point gap on us. We reduced it to 7 before they ran away with it. We might have finished 2nd but were never really in the title race.

Only in 2022/23 did we ever become favourites to win the league. And even the we never had th huge gap on Man City some make out. We always had to go to the Etihad and the had a game in hand. The “8 point gap” was a defacto 2 point gap if they won those two games. Which the did.

Some will jump on the draw as “Arteta and Arsenal bottling it again”, and they are welcome to their opinion. But the are the sort of people that jump on any thread of negativity in an attempt to reflect the negativity in their own lives on others. Unhappy men who have realised they are failures in life and do not want anyone to do well.

Meanwhile the majority of us are backing the manager. Backing the boys. And trying to ignore the noise.

Keenos