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.
Denne historien er fra August 26, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Denne historien er fra August 26, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Carse justifies England faith as the archetypal bold pick
If you won a boxing match after your opponent continually punched themselves in the face, how much credit can you take?
Tenacious Diallo the key to Amorim pressing machine
Old Trafford has not seen anything like this before.
Gold King Cole packs the Bridge with merry old souls
In the 83rd minute, the ball rolled to the feet of Cole Palmer in a bubble of space outside Aston Villa's box, and the crowd snapped to attention.
Vibrant Anfield marks the changing of the Guardiola
There was a lull in the noise, a break in the Anfield atmosphere, when a defiant chant emerged from a corner near Stefan Ortega’s goal.
What is so daunting about Spain's new data checks?
Q You have written about the new “red tape” for visitors to Spain. So, as well as your usual passport details you will give a contact number, address and email. Not exactly the Spanish Inquisition, is it?
Sectarian clashes claim at least 130 lives in Pakistan
At least 130 people were killed in deadly sectarian clashes in Pakistan's northwestern Kurram district in spite of a tentative ceasefire, days after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of vehicles carrying Shia Muslims, local officials said.
Coalition government likely in Ireland as count proceeds
Fianna Fail say decisions on power-sharing for another day’
How Syria's forgotten war is back on the world's agenda
Many believed the country was lost in an unsolvable conflict, until everything changed in a matter of days, writes Bel Trew
Assad regime scrambles to halt Syrian rebels’ advance
Civilians reportedly killed by Russian and Syrian airstrikes
Mother of poisoning victim says she knew she would die
Lawyer Simone White succumbed to the effects of methanol while backpacking in Laos with two of her childhood friends
