Statement wins do not come much louder than this. It will resonate throughout the Premier League, and certainly in the blue half of Manchester as well as the red, as Arsenal showed a phenomenal relentlessness that might just help propel them to their first Premier League title in two decades.
At the final whistle, seconds after Eddie Nketiah forced the winning goal with cat-like reactions as he just managed to keep himself onside, it felt like lift-off. The stadium erupted. It almost shook. Come and feel the noise. It coursed with relief, joy, belief, emotion and rawness. What a ride. “Beautiful,” Mikel Arteta called it, and for Arsenal it was.
No-one should begrudge the unbridled celebrations. Arteta grabbed his coaching staff tight and while, at times, his reactions are over-the-top – and he was booked here for berating the fourth official in the first-half – when it is harnessed that energy and intensity is extremely powerful. It is, indeed, beautiful.
In midweek Pep Guardiola – who senses the real and present danger posed by this Arsenal and his former assistant, Arteta – spoke of the need for “fire” from City. The response in N7, in a tight contest that kicked off with Arsenal’s lead cut to two points, felt like a raging inferno at times. On a cold January afternoon the furnaces burned bright. Pressure? They dealt it with guts and gusto.
A campaign that started with hopes of a top-four finish now has far greater ambition. Quietly, though, Arsenal will be delighted that they are not just five points ahead of City but 11 in front of United, have 17 more than fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and are an astonishing 21 ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool. Not only that but also have a game in hand over the rest of the top four.
