Arsène Wenger recalls the pre-season conversation with clarity. It was 1994 and his friend, Jean-Claude Suaudeau, the Nantes manager, was in trouble. The Arsenal manager was at Monaco and Suaudeau wanted to borrow one of his players. Wenger said no.
“The player was not 100% a regular but I said: ‘I cannot give him to you because I need him,’” Wenger said. “He said: ‘You’re unfair, because I will go down. They have sold my players and I have nobody left.’”
What happened next has gone down in French football folklore. Suaudeau played the kids and the kids stormed to the league title. Claude Makélélé, Christian Karembeu, Reynald Pedros, Patrice Loko and Nicolas Ouédec were aged 24 or under at the start of the season and Nantes thrived on their fearlessness.
They lost only once – in the 33rd match – and coasted home 10 points clear of second-placed Lyon. They would reach the semi-finals of the Champions League the following season.
“Because he had no choice, he played all the young players,” Wenger said. “For fuck’s sake, 32 games unbeaten! They won the championship with Loko, with Pedros. That’s the first time I’d seen it. Now, we have a second.”
Now, as Wenger points out, we have Leicester City and their Premier League fairytale, which has so far headlined a season dotted with wacky surprises. Like many people, Wenger looks at the club that sat bottom of the division this time last year, but are now on top, with a mixture of benevolence and wonder. “It is not only good for English football but for everybody in football all over the world,” he said.
Wenger talked about how the openness of this season’s championship was “inspiring” but, most importantly from his side, it is inspiring for Arsenal. With Chelsea having imploded and all of the other big clubs racked by inconsistency, the opportunity for a first title since 2004 is writ large for Arsenal.
Wenger knows it. Everybody at the club knows it. And it is why the visit of Manchester City to the Emirates Stadium on Monday night feels like such a defining occasion.
Wenger noted how Arsenal have been the only team to beat Leicester; they won 5-2 at the King Power Stadium in September. “Nobody took our performance seriously,” he said. “They just thought it was normal. But ever since, you have been able to see that it was a great result and a great performance.”
It is against City, however, that Arsenal can make the grand statement. In recent seasons, they have stood on the brink of lengthening their stride in the title race only to stumble. This time, Wenger wants to see them be decisive and impose themselves.
“The title will be won by taking points off the bigger teams,” Wenger said. “Maybe more than ever because the championship appears to be very tight. We have played 16 games and the top team is on 38 points. So it means that the Premier League title could be decided at around 80 points. Consistency will be the main priority because every week, you are surprised by the results. We have really established a good run so it’s important to continue that.”
Arsenal have found their character questioned almost as a matter of course and it feels as though only winning the title will stop the doubts.
Wenger maintains slow and steady progress has been made, from the time when Manchester City – and other clubs – would pinch their best players to results like the fortifying 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium last January.
“It was difficult to take [when Arsenal lost players to City] but we had to survive financially and we had to live with it,” Wenger said. “I cannot say it will never happen again because you never know, but we are in a position today where we don’t have to give in.
“It [the question of our character] was true for a while because we were a young team and a young team can be up and down. We have to accept that [the question] is part of it. But we have to give our answer on the pitch week-in, week-out and, slowly, that will die.
“What we did at Olympiakos in the Champions League shows we are not a team of no character.”
Arsenal (probable): Cech; Bellerín, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Flamini, Ramsey; Walcott, Özil, Campbell; Giroud.
Manchester City (probable): Hart; Sagna, Mangala, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernandinho, Touré; De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling; Agüero.