Last season, Arsenal could really do no more. The Gunners set club records for most Premier League wins in a season and most Premier League goals in a campaign, while only in their 2003-04 title-winning year did they earn more points, but Manchester City were still insurmountable.
This year, unfathomably, they have to do even more. Their defence is the best in the league and they have world-leading stars further forward, while their manager is willing to try anything to end 20 years of hurt in north London, including employing pickpockets – professionals “stole” (and gave back) items from the players at a pre-season meal to hammer home the need to be switched on mentally – to keep his players alert at all times on and off the pitch.
Cementing their status as nearly men, however, seemed on the cards for another year as they appeared to have been bewitched by their Aston Villa hoodoo on Saturday. Bukayo Saka was unable to work his magic, an impenetrable backline struggled to keep out the determined Villans and Declan Rice was powerless to contain the rampaging Morgan Rogers from bursting through the heart of the Gunners midfield like wet tissue paper.
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