Arsenal entered this week at rock bottom, recently eliminated from the Europa League and sitting in 9th place in the Premier League table. For the first time in over a quarter of a century, the North London club was not projected to play in Europe next season. This was just the cherry on top for what has been one of the most abysmal seasons in the club’s rich history, filled with scandal and poor results throughout.
Now, as of Week 36 in this turbulent Premier League season, Arsenal sits just 3 points behind 5th place, West Ham, on the back of two wildly different matches. On Sunday, Arteta’s men relegated Big Sam’s West Brom holding 65% possession while cruising to a 3-1 victory. Conversely, Wednesday’s tie with Chelsea proved to be a defensive battle as only two shots on target with required to defeat the Blues after a costly error by Jorginho. Despite two drastically varied approaches, Arsenal walked away with 6 points and one crucial commonality between the matches…an Emile Smith-Rowe goal.
One of the biggest bright spots of this year for the Gunners has been the excellent production from young home-grown talents such as 20-year-old Smith-Rowe. He and golden boy Bukayo Saka, 19, combined for a lovely goal against West Brom, tallying Emile’s first goal of the year. His form continued against Chelsea off a feed from Aubameyang, depositing the game-winner off the woodwork in the 16th minute. Arsenal fielded an offensive front line averaging 24 years old both games, continuing with a trend that has placed their average starting XI in the top 10 youngest for the whole league.
As Arsenal moves forward this following summer with Arteta seemingly still at the helm, it is not unreasonable to imagine he will continue to overhaul the club with younger talent, seeing the likes of 32-year-old Willian and veteran presence David Luiz exit the daily starter role. With William Saliba returning from Nice this summer to join Gabriel in the back, as well as the potential long-term signing of offensive gem Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal appear to be gearing up for a resurgence into European football, and potentially a push for the Champions League.
