Leandro Trossard sent Arsenal past West Ham on Sunday, and the result carried more weight than a single afternoon’s points. West Ham thought they had salvaged an equaliser, only for VAR to erase it and leave Arsenal with a win that keeps their title chase moving through the final stretch.
Arsenal now need to win their last two games to become champions, though they may not need all six remaining points depending on Manchester City’s results in their last three games. That is the shape of the race now: a club trying to finish a more than two-decade wait for a league title with the margin for error almost gone.
The timing matters because this is not a one-off surge. Earlier in the spring, Arsenal had been through a wobble of sorts, yet they have now followed Sunday’s victory with a close tie win over Atletico Madrid that secured their first Champions League final in 20 years. Those results have turned Pep Guardiola’s praise into something closer to evidence than flattery.
Guardiola said earlier in the spring that Arsenal were among the best teams in Europe, and he went further when he called them “the best team in Europe.” He added: “Alongside Bayern Munich and maybe Barcelona as well, [Arsenal are] the best team in Europe.” Coming from the manager whose teams have helped define the modern standard, it was a strong claim. Arsenal’s recent run has made it harder to dismiss.
The tension for Arsenal is that even this run of form does not hand them control. They can win both of their final two games and finish the job, but Manchester City’s remaining fixtures still decide whether those six points are truly required. That is the pain in the arsenal now: a team playing some of its sharpest football in years, and still needing the table to bend its way at the end.
