Derek Kraft 
Only the most jaded Gooner isn’t excited after our ninth consecutive victory in all competitions. It was a brilliant performance against Fulham, in which we controlled the game, scored a plethora of goals, including one of the best of recent memory, and were as robust defensively as we have seen this current team be. After opening the season with consecutive losses, albeit against stellar competition, we are now only two points off the lead in the table. Who woulda thunk it? Many people are asking, are you convinced in Arsenal’s ability to win the league? Is the 2018-19 team the Convincibles?
Most of our victories have not been impressive in that we did not look overwhelmingly better than the opposition. The win against West Ham wasn’t sealed until Welbeck scored in injury time. Cardiff City came back TWICE to tie the match (this was the only match so far that Cardiff has managed to score more than once). We failed to keep a clean sheet against a weak Newcastle side when they scored in injury time. Watford managed 14 shots to our 9 and 5 shots on target to our 2. Four of our nine victories have come against sides that are currently sitting in the bottom six, and does anyone really think, with all due respect, that Qarabag FK and Vorskla are solid teams? We have gotten lucky. We have given up way too many good scoring chances against lesser teams. By all rights, we should have lost a couple of the games we have won (yes, that Chelsea loss should have been a victory). Our luck will eventually run out if we continue to pass up good chances.
So, we are on a run against teams that we should be handling, and we haven’t been all that great in doing it. BUT, it all came together at Craven Cottage against Fulham on Sunday. Unai Emery surprised us with the line up and the formation. We scored early, played some easy on the eye football, allowed an equalizer, were unfazed, then in the second half, in American parlance, we kicked ass. The away end chanted “we’ve got our Arsenal back.” Our attacking play was in sync and lethal. Most importantly perhaps, our defence was solid. Yes, we gave up some opportunities. But those chances came from misplayed passes rather than defensive failures. I have become used to teams counterattacking against us, slicing through a porous midfield, our wingers and forwards offering little to no defensive support, our defenders overwhelmed, our German stumbling and our Bosnian bumbling. But none of that was on display against Fulham. It was a poor pass by the usually reliable Monreal that resulted in the goal. For some reason, that seems like progress.
The most surprising thing about the Emery era thus far is how he has been unable to fix our defence. We gave up 51 goals in the league last season, 13 more than any of our top six rivals. Yet our defending this season remains suspect. Only time will tell whether our solidity against Fulham was an anomaly or whether everything has finally clicked. Certainly, the integration of Torreira has helped, as has the willingness of players like Iwobi and Welbeck to do their fair share on the defensive end.
On the positive side, our team is different under Emery in that we don’t quit. Last season, or in many seasons before that for that matter, if we had gone down 2-0 to Chelsea so early like we did, we would have gotten blown out. In a game like we played against Cardiff, we wouldn’t have gotten three points and may have lost. Emery has instilled a belief in this team and we can now withstand a goal or a bad spell. It will persevere, and it will fight. That is a change we can all get behind.
I don’t know our final destination, but I know we are moving in the right direction. I hope Emery recognizes the dangers of shoehorning players into positions. I hope he sees that he doesn’t just need to put his most creative players all on the pitch together. I hope he continues to demand that players contribute on both sides of the ball. I hope we see that 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2) formation more often. I hope Emery continues to give meaningful minutes to Iwobi, Welbeck, Holding and Guendouzi. I hope Smith Rowe continues his impressive development (side note - I saw someone wearing his kit today in Manhattan). No, I am not convinced we can win the league; these aren’t the Convincibles. But I have hope, something that has been lacking in recent seasons. And that is enough for me.
