In any title winning season, there are ‘bookmarks’ in a league campaign. Watershed moments where you have that intangible ‘I think we can do this’ or ‘I think we will do this’ results and performances. I don’t think these are always easily identified by the nature of the opponent. Sometimes it can be a seemingly random game on a Wednesday night.
Sometimes it can be a relatively inauspicious looking result in isolation but maybe it happens on a day when your rivals stumble. In January 2002, Arsenal went to Ewood Park for a run of the mill league fixture. They cruised into a 2-0 lead before quickly surrendering it and then getting a player sent off for good measure. Arsenal battled and Dennis Bergkamp scored a late deflected winner.
It was probably his most unattractive Arsenal goal and the game wasn’t televised so didn’t enormously resonate beyond the away following. But I came away from Ewood Park that evening with that, ‘this is our season’ feeling. It’s difficult to describe or justify but there are just some games, some goals, some moments in a title winning campaign when, deep in your guts, you think, you feel, ‘this is the sort of thing that happens to champions.’ They almost always happen away from home. Here are three of mine from 2025-26.
28 September, 2025. Newcastle United 1 (Woltemade ’34) Arsenal 2 (Merino ’84, Gabriel 90+6)
St. James’ Park has not been a particularly happy place for Arsenal in recent seasons. I had witnessed three straight defeats there before clambering on a train to Newcastle in September fully believing we would see something different. One of the reasons that Newcastle is such a difficult place to go is because the rules for what constitutes foul play suddenly alter beyond recognition.
So when Viktor Gyokeres was denied an obvious penalty in the first half and then Gabriel, uncharacteristically, allowed Nick Woltemade to head the Magpies into a first half lead, the story was unfolding in a familiar fashion. Arsenal toiled and toiled in the second half, dominating territory but failing to convert that into clearcut opportunities.
The combination of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres actually seemed to be working pretty well during the game and Arsenal were unfortunate to be a goal down. But a goal down they were and it looked a long way back into the game. Arsenal trailed Liverpool at the top of the table by five points and I just had that ‘this is going to be last season again, isn’t it?’ feeling in my stomach.
Then Martin Odegaard came on and it felt as though the drain had been unblocked. He offered something vital, something different, something Newcastle looked less assured about handling. Mikel Merino headed an equaliser in off the post on 83 minutes and, from there, Arsenal had the look of a wolf with blood on its jaws.
They probed and attacked and harried until, finally, in the 96th minute, they got their reward when Gabriel headed home a 96th minute winner from an Odegaard corner. It was an example of Arsenal’s squad depth. In the absence of a true bazooka in attack they kept throwing stones.
Merino, Odegaard, Martinelli. Saliba and Lewis Skelly also came on in this game. From feeling, on 82 minutes, that we were in for another season as a distant second, in 13 minutes, my belief cartwheeled. ‘This is what champions do,’ I thought. At this point, we had been to Old Trafford, Anfield and St. James’ Park and it marks the first time in the season when I thought, ‘this is ours for the taking.’
5 March, 2026. Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Arsenal 1 (Saka ‘9)
Arsenal travelled to the South Coast for a league game that could not be described as ‘run of the mill.’ The pressure around every single league game for Arsenal this season has been extraordinary and unique. Even home games against Wolves and Burnley were incredibly heavy going. However, this was the night when I think the belief of the entire fan base changed.
Arsenal struggle balled their way to a 1-0 away win at Brighton. They scored a deflected goal in the 9th minute and produced very little else of consequence in an attacking sense. They held Brighton at bay through their peerless off-ball resilience, much to the chagrin of their annoying little manager, who had baited the home fans into turning their guns outward at the visiting team with inflammatory pre-match comments.
And you know what? Fair enough. Get an advantage wherever you can. Herzeler’s subsequent whingeing post-match merely served as music to Arsenal fans ears as we learned to use bad faith criticism as fuel. But more importantly, this was an unusual night because it was one of the only times during the season when Arsenal and Manchester City played simultaneously. City drew 2-2 at home to Nottingham Forest, a fixture I don’t think many of the travelling fans expected to produce many issues for Guardiola’s team.
As the final whistle sounded at the Amex a secondary, more visceral raw emanated from the away end as news dribbled out of the final whistle in Manchester. It was the first time the Arsenal fans began to sing the greatest song in football, ‘we’re gonna win the league and now you’re gonna believe us!’
At Brighton, because queues for Falmer station are so large post-game, they serve beer in the concourse and allow away fans to stay back for a quick jar to let the crowds go. It was an opportunity many of us took. Many hugs were had and many backs were slapped in that concourse. The results moved Arsenal seven points clear at the top and the prize was in sight.
19 April, 2026. Manchester City 2 (Cherki ’16, Haaland ’65) Arsenal 1 (Havertz ’17)
Did I definitely think that Arsenal would win the league after this game? Certainly not. Did the game extinguish my belief entirely? No. Arsenal performed well after some recent wobbles and didn’t really deserve to lose a tight game. I thought- and still think- City thought they had done it with this result.
The level of success they have achieved clearly affords them huge respect but it doesn’t make them flawless. Look again at Rayan Cherki’s celebration when he opens the scoring. Or Erling Haaland’s knowing look at the camera on full-time. They thought they were there. City fans definitely thought so as they unfurled a ‘panic in the streets of London’ banner at full-time. Talk about hubris.
It felt like Arsenal fans, possibly fearing the worst after the Carabao Cup Final, the FA Cup exit at Southampton and the wobble at home to Bournemouth, were slightly more bullish. The result leveled the teams at the top, turning the run-in into a five game playoff. What is remarkable about this result was how little it altered either team’s chemistry. Both teams went on to remain exactly as they had been all season. City occasionally looked very good but stumbled twice away from home.
Arsenal won all five of their games, four of them by one goal and three of them 1-0. City did not gather any ‘momentum.’ Arsenal did not curl up into a ball and cry. Both teams went away and carried on exactly as they had all season. ‘As You Were’ as a famous City fan might say and that was enough for the Gunners to take the title with a game to spare. Bottle this.
