As Turf Moor can represent the antidote to the Premier League’s shiny new stadiums, it served as an appropriate venue for a throwback to the old days. As their 21st-century successors left the pitch after securing a hard-fought victory, the anthem for George Graham’s team, “1-0 to the Arsenal”, rang around a historic venue. The away fans then started serenading Lee Dixon.
Only the man who arrived as the arch-moderniser seemed immune to nostalgia’s charms. “I don’t know if they were good or bad days,” mused Arsène Wenger, who has always had at least one eye on the future. But, utterly unprompted, it was the Frenchman who brought his most celebrated team into the conversation. “I would just remind you that we won a championship without losing a game,” he said. “Nobody else has done that.”
The modern-day Arsenal have emulated the Invincibles in another respect. They have won eight consecutive league games, a feat they last achieved in 2004. Then Wenger had challenged his squad to complete the season undefeated. Now even the eternal optimist has been taken aback by their recent prowess.
“I always hope the best of my team but, if he is serious, no manager in the world can predict a run like that,” he said. Eight straight wins, 16 from 18 games in all competitions: no wonder he senses something special is happening. Dixon was saluted by supporters as a pitchside pundit but Héctor Bellerín, the right-back, is 31 years his junior and started the season as third choice. So did Francis Coquelin. Both defender and holding midfielder are regulars now.
The watching Thierry Henry, the most illustrious of the Invincibles, called his compatriot “Columbo”, Peter Falk’s fictional detective, given Coquelin’s ability to police an area where others could cause trouble. Wenger was less lyrical but equally appreciative. “Coquelin contributes to the balance of the team,” he said. “We have a better balance.” For too long Arsenal’s focus on attack left them imbalanced. Now regaining and retaining possession are twin objectives.
Wenger first flourished in England by using forceful defensive midfielders to fuse Graham’s back four together with his own sleeker, speedier attackers. Belatedly, there is something of a repeat. Arsenal have skill and solidity, flair and firmness. Coquelin has experienced defeat only once in 17 league games this season; he is not an Invincible but has certainly become indispensable.
After the eight-minute, three-goal salvo against Liverpool came an exercise in obduracy at Burnley. “You cannot always win 3-1 or 4-1 or 5-1,” Wenger said. “You have to be capable of winning 1-0 as well. We know we can play with sharpness and fluency but today was a bit more scrappy, more fighting, more combative and we can produce that side as well.”
Turf Moor brought a sight of Arsenal’s earthier qualities and the abiding image was of Alexis Sánchez sprinting 30 yards to dispossess Burnley’s George Boyd so he could pass the ball back to his goalkeeper, David Ospina. That commitment was shared. “We tried to focus on not conceding,” Olivier Giroud said. “It’s one more clean sheet.”
The makeshift right-winger Aaron Ramsey added a third goal to a trio of assists in his last six matches. Things are going right for Arsenal, better even than they believed was possible. They are a team with momentum and they are desperate to maintain it. “We want to keep this good run going until the end,” Giroud said.
Man of the match Francis Coquelin (Arsenal)