Ayomiposi Ajidahun 

The moment Arteta walked through the door at Arsenal, there were no illusions about what kind of leader he would be. 

The new manager was quick to promise change, ruthlessness and sacrifice in helping turn the club around.

“I will burn every drop of blood for this football club to make it better,” Arteta vowed.

The Spaniard made it abundantly clear that the mood surrounding the team needed to change and the players couldn’t do this without its fans.

“We have to create the right vibe, the right energy, and everybody at the organisation has to feel so privileged to be here. There’s no other way,” he added.

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“We need the fans. We need to engage them, we need to be able to transmit with our behaviours, our intentions, what we want to bring to this football club.”

Arteta wasted no time delivering on those promises.

Just over six months into his time in charge, Arsenal had picked up its first major trophy in three years with an FA Cup final win against local rival Chelsea.

Arsenal fans could be forgiven for getting ahead of themselves, but the soccer gods were quick to remind supporters that this sport is not so straightforward.

Arteta’s side finished eighth that year and backed it up with another disappointing eighth-place finish in the coach’s first full season in charge. 

Question marks began floating around about Arteta’s ability to get Arsenal back among England’s best and that feeling was compounded by a fifth-place finish in the 2021-22 season.

It had now been six long years since the Gunners last competed among Europe’s elite in the Champions League, but ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, the tide was beginning to turn.

The nearly-men

“Standard” defined the start of Arteta’s time at Arsenal.

There was constant talk about raising the standards, and players quickly had to meet Arteta’s expectations. If you fell short of this, the manager was quick to make a change.

Big names, fan favourites, and high earners such as Mesut Özil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were moved on as Arteta began to forge his own team and identity.

But most importantly, Arteta stayed true to his word about changing the mood surrounding the club.

Leaving no stone unturned, the young head coach even identified a pre-match anthem for the club and “North London Forever” now reverberates around Arsenal’s 60,000-seat stadium before every home match.

The connection between the club and its supporters was renewed, fans were louder than they had been in recent years, and Arsenal’s team ahead of the 2022-23 season was young, hungry and packed with talent.

Homegrown star Bukayo Saka was dazzling fans every week, new captain Martin Ødegaard pulled the strings in midfield, and defenders Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba shut up shop at the back.

There was a new lease on life at the club.

Twenty-two years later

But winning a league title after so long was never going to be easy, and 2004 certainly felt like a very long time ago for Arsenal fans.

Usher was dominating the charts, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” was leading the box office, and Arsenal completed the extraordinary achievement of finishing a Premier League season without losing a game.

“The Invincibles” were unbeatable and more success looked sure to follow their accomplishment. But amid the celebrations and frenzy of full-time fireworks, who could have predicted it would be the last time Arsène Wenger’s men tasted Premier League glory?

Fast forward 22 years, and Arsenal was still without that coveted title. That was until a couple of days ago.

With Manchester City dropping points against Bournemouth, Arsenal secured the title with a game to spare, and the streets of North London certainly knew it.

The Emirates Stadium and the nearby areas were painted in red and white as thousands upon thousands of fans descended upon their spiritual home.

The beer aisles in the surrounding supermarkets were barren, pubs were packed, and the streets were flooded. Babies being lifted like trophies, lampposts climbed, and fireworks exploding, and all of this on a Tuesday night when Arsenal hadn’t even been playing.

It’s safe to say the fans are certainly engaged with this group of players.

The team bounced back with four wins in a row, keeping four clean sheets and not letting the ghosts of seasons past impact another campaign.

“Twenty-two years, they was laughing, they was joking. They’re not laughing anymore,” a victorious Saka said from Arsenal’s training ground, summarising the feeling of the entire fanbase.

But this team isn’t done yet.

Arteta’s men could win the club’s first-ever European Cup when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest at the end of May, creating more history and making more memories.

With the team not looking like slowing down, the party might only just be getting started in North London.