For close to a decade under Arsene Wenger, and then under Unai Emery, all most of asked was for us to be challenging for the title at the business end of the season.

Our victory against Bournemouth means that we are taking our title challenge to the last week of the season. We can not demand much more than that.

Early season questions surrounding whether we could back up last season remarkable breakthrough have been put to bed. With 2 games to go, we have 1-point less than 2022/23 scored the same amount of goals and conceded 15 less. Mikel Arteta has proved himself to be a top, top manager.

But all of this could be for nothing. The title is in Manchester City’s hands and I can not see them getting into any trouble in their last 3 games.

For us, the equation is simple. Beat Manchester United at Old Trafford and we take our title challenge to the last game. Lose and City could clinch the title with a game to go against Tottenham.

If we finish 2nd, the usual suspects will be looking to blame someone. Those that listen to far too much TalkSport will jump straight on the “Arsenal bottled it again” bandwagon. Finishing 2nd to Manchester City is not bottling it.

If we win our final two games, our 2024 form will read: P18 W16 D1 L1. That is title winning form, not the form of a team that bottle it towards the end.

It is incredible that we could put that run together and still finish second. But then you look at City.

If Man City win their final 3 games, they would have gone on a 23-game unbeaten run, winning 19 and drawing 4. That truly is incredible form for 60% of the season. And we should be proud that we have been able to keep up with their pace.

Yes, we did start a slower this compared to last. But we were holding back a little to ensure we were still at 100% come the last 10 games. And that is exactly what have happened.

For decades, top teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have done “just enough” in the opening 15 games of the season to get wins and keep up with the league leaders. As Christmas comes and goes, they then find an extra gear. That is where we now are.

Had we started stronger, there is no guarantee we would have been able to keep it going. Evidence 1: Arsenal last season. Evidence 2: Liverpool this season.

Come the beginning of February, Liverpool were 5 points clear of both ManchesterCity and Arsenal. At the time of writing (on a sunny Sunday morning), they are 8 points behind us and 7 behind City. They are out of the title race, could well be out of the race for the top 2 by the time this is published, and have fallen away.

I would not say Liverpool have bottled it. They have just ran out of steam like Arsenal did last season. Manchester City have created a league that you can not afford to lose even once in the last 18 games of the season if you want to be champions. That leads to huge physical and mental fatigue to those teams who do not have their resources.

This time next week we will know whether we are going to be taking our season to the last game of the season, or whether we have gifted Tottenham fans the opportunity to celebrate a league title at their ground. And I am sure Spurs fans will be delirious watching City lift the title at White Hart Lane.

As always, we just need to focus on ourselves. City play again before our next game. We could be facing Man U in second place, or playing them with the title being back in our hands.

Enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend.

Keenos