WE'RE ON OUR WAY

Good freaking morning to all you beautiful people. 

Since my last post, a couple of great things have happened. First, that very evening after I hit send, David Moyes' tricky blue army secured a HUGE draw against Man City (could've been even better but I'm not getting hung up on that). It means the title is firmly in our hands now and we have even stronger clarity on our mission in the Premier League - win 3 games, win the league. Couldn't be more simple, right? We have to do our best to remain in 'one-game-at-a-time' territory, with a tricky away trip to relegation-fighting West Ham next. More on that later...

In even bigger news, some would say, last night I was there to witness what has to be one of the greatest nights of the Emirates Stadium's lifetime. Arsenal Football Club are in a Champions League Final. Yes, you read that right, it wasn't a dream, we did it. I thought we performed so maturely, so controlled, a shining example of how to navigate a tricky two-legged European semi-final against seasoned opposition. We got what we needed in Madrid, meaning we could set up this way for our home leg. 

The defensive unit, including the attacking players who gave their all to help out defensively, and the substitutes (in particular Hincapié), were sensational. That block by Gabriel to deny Atlético what would have been a momentum-swinging goal was as important as the goal Saka scored. Saliba has been immense recently and this game was no exception. If he gets a trophy to his name this season I'm going to start making very big statements about him. Declan Rice was everywhere - mopping up, driving forward, holding them off in their impressive pressing attempts that caused us nerves at times, particularly in that second half. 

Myles Lewis-Skelly, to once again perform to that level against Europe's elite in as high-stakes a game as you can imagine, only this time in midfield rather than left-back, was incredible. They must fear you in both sides of Madrid now. Massive shout out to the manager who had the bravery to keep MLS in the starting XI after his impressive display against Fulham in the league. He just gives us more energy and drive, I just love his ability to receive the ball under pressure and turn to break away and facilitate our attacks. 

Trossard worked tirelessly and was instrumental in both our best attacking and defensive moments. Gyökeres was absolutely fantastic again, finding form at the right time. Normally he excels in his ball striking and little else, but last night it seemed to be the other way around! Apart from that glorious chance that he fired over the bar which should have ended the tie, he was great and again worked his socks off to hold up the ball and get us going in attack. As for Mr Bukayo Saka - he was the difference again, causing Atlético all sorts of issues and being alive to the rebound after a good save by Oblak to deny Trossard. He's doing this whilst not even being fully fit, even admitting to CBS Sports that he's still experiencing issues with his achilles: See the interview here

Finally, a special shout out to the manager, who has made my belief waver at times this season I'll be honest. But last night his brave starting XI, the substitutions which helped us out after Atlético started to get on top of us for a bit at the start of the second half, the way he set up the team to manage this game by leaning into our strengths of hard-work and defensive grit, it all proved to be exactly what we needed to progress. He has taken this team from the wilderness in 8th position, where we could only dream of reaching the places we have now reached. All that's left is to take the final steps over the line, starting this Sunday at the Olympic Stadium. 

Yes, West Ham United stand in the way of us really starting to load up the party poppers and get the party playlists on standby. A team fighting for relegation that would love to get one over on their London rivals by stopping us from winning the league. They will be tough, their ground will be, well, as 'rocking' as that place can be. This is the big scary fixture left in our schedule. Overcome this and people will really really start to believe. Like REALLY really this time. Even me, who hasn't once confidently said this season that I think we will win it, would find it difficult not to start pumping out my chest slightly. 

Nuno has had our number before and we don't know the toll last night's game will have on the fitness of our squad, with a few players being taken off out of precaution last night. Then again, the players that are fit to start surely will be absolutely raring to go again on the high of our Champions League exploits. 

I wonder if we might see some changes given we are going to be away from home and West Ham will have to come at us a bit because a draw isn't really good enough for them. We might see the likes of Hincapié starting at left-back, especially given Calafiori has played two games back to back after returning from injury. Zubimendi may well return to the midfield from the start, there may possibly some changes afoot up top with Martinelli/Havertz/Madueke coming in for any of the front three we saw start last night. In any event, I am trusting the manager to pick the best team to win the game. 

The task is clear, the pathway is clear, the prize is in our sights. Let's do this.