Move over, Liverpool, the Premier League has some new mentality monsters – Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
The league leaders have shown time and again this season that they have a title-winning mentality. No side in the division has picked up more points from losing positions (15) than Arteta’s Gunners.
In years gone by, particularly in the late Arsene Wenger era, there were questions of Arsenal’s fragility when it came to the crunch moments. This isn’t the first time that the club have been involved in a title tussle in the modern Emirates era, but on previous occasions they fell away.
We’ll have to wait and see whether they can make it over the line, but on more than one occasion in 2022-23, Arteta’s side have demonstrated the mentality of champions. Here are six occasions in which they’ve stepped up to the plate in difficult moments.
Fulham
Arsenal turned on the style in the opening weeks of the campaign, scoring nine goals in successive victories against Crystal Palace, Leicester and Bournemouth.
Round four and the visit of surprise package Fulham was the first occasion they were required to show they had steel as well as silk.
Aleksandar Mitrovic put the visitors ahead in the opening stages of the second half, but captain Martin Odegaard equalised within 10 minutes – and in the 86th minute Gabriel Magalhaes converted a corner to turn things around.
Brentford
Arsenal’s early-season winning run came to an end at Old Trafford with a 3-1 defeat at Manchester United.
Attention then turned to how they’d respond in the following match – a difficult trip to Brentford, where they’d lost 2-0 on their last visit.
The answer turned out to be a performance as impressive as the result was emphatic – a brilliant 3-0 victory. That was the start of a four-match winning run and 13-match unbeaten run in the league. Some response.
READ: Everything Gary Neville has said about Arsenal & Arteta in 22-23
West Ham
Arsenal had taken 22 points from the last 24 available prior to the World Cup break, but they returned to action with a relatively flat first-half performance at home to West Ham.
Jarrod Bowen gave the Hammers a deserved lead at half-time on Boxing Day, raising questions of whether the break had stunted Arsenal’s momentum – especially after key striker Gabriel Jesus suffered an injury in Qatar.
Each of the front three – Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Jesus’ deputy Eddie Nketiah – got on the scoresheet in the second half as…
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