Bathed in a late May glow, sun peaking through the sleek stadium rafters, Mikel Arteta stood alone to address his now-devoted followers, the ‘soul of this football club’ as he described them.

The crowd stood as one and roared Arteta as he approached the microphone.

This sight at the Emirates, at 6pm on May 28, 2023, demonstrated the unquantifiable leap forward that Arsenal has taken this year. No in-depth analysis required.

Forget points, trophies (or lack thereof), statement wins, the season, as Arteta has repeatedly espoused, has been about connection.

Arteta’s manic light-bulb moment of the Amazon Docu-series, during which he wielded a light-bulb at his players like an eccentric orchestra conductor, is starting to make sense.

Arteta demands passion, fight, bravery, and camaraderie from his team because he understands that these traits, combined with the players’ immense technical abilities, will bring unity with the supporters – and when supporters and players are united, there can be no ceiling on a team’s achievement.

This elusive, chicken-and-egg relationship between players and fans can be so fickle and often unattainable in professional sport. Arteta’s orchestra flattered to deceive last year, occasionally dragged through games by the fledgling Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard, whilst their rhythm section of Aubameyang and Lacazette struggled in vain to tune their kit.

Yet with Odegaard – the personification of technical ability and never-say-die attitude – promoted to first violin this year, Arsenal far exceeded all expectations. 

Arsenal Reborn

Written off by many for even a top four spot after last year’s capitulation, Arsenal looked reborn with Jesus’ flair and quality, and Zinchenko’s control and passion.

A new system was unveiled with Zinchenko seemingly playing in every position on the pitch at the same time, Saka scything opposition defences down as he cut inside, goals coming from every position.

Five games, five wins, four goals conceded, 13 scored, top of the League.

Even defeat at Old Trafford in game six showed green shoots, Odegaard being wrongly adjudged to have committed a foul in the build up to what would have been a defining goal in the contest.

The Premier League’s apology for the officiating rang rather hollow, but the fearlessness and bravery of the team continued to inspire. 

Pep and Haaland

Meanwhile, Pep cut, moulded, carved, hammered, drilled, modelled and remodelled. His Spanish castillo, lavished with intricate decoration, embellishments, secret passages to success at every turn, was to be re-built as a modern, minimalist, scandi-chic mansion, powered by the perpetual goal source that is Haaland at its centre.

Guardiola resembled the evil mad scientist – hair-long gone, but passion for world domination alive on his sleeve, tinkering with his monster, his Manc-enstein, the only question being when, rather than if, he would be able to unleash an indomitable winning machine on the planet. For now, though, Pep had to settle for second place.

Although Haaland was scoring at will, the wider team struggled to re-purpose themselves from 11 mercurial magicians to 11 mathematicians whose sole role was to solve the algorithm of ‘how to get the ball to Haaland’. 

The illusion of Manchester City now being a one trick pony (albeit a rather large Norwegian stallion), was a slight of hand which did not fool people for long.

Post World Cup: Fearless Arsenal 

Arsenal went into the Christmas period five points clear at the top, scintillating displays against Tottenham and Liverpool filling the Emirates with joy and energy.

Every fearless charge, every sniping tackle, each slick finish was accompanied by a cacophony of noise from a fan-base unable or unwilling to believe what they were seeing. Huge dollops of luck had also played their part in germinating belief; Patrick Bamford’s missed penalty, Gabriel’s handball that wasn’t against Liverpool.

Arsenal even appeared relatively unaffected by World Cup action until Jesus, the ignition switch to their season, suffered a torn ACL. Arsenal’s talisman, the totem of their high press, total football, win-at-all-costs ambition, had been removed from the equation. 

No Jesus? No problem, it seemed. Arsenal continued battling, all whirling Odegaard arms and jiggling Partey hips.

Nketiah, so often maligned as a Hovis Best of Both, loved for the safety of always being there but not much else, suddenly became focal. Previously considered to be out of place amongst the Ukrainian soughdough and Norwegian Nordika, Eddie came of age. With the Premier League watching on as Arsenal went behind against West Ham, Nketiah’s balletic turn and finish put the cherry on top of a clinical Arsenal fightback. This team believed.

Late victories 

This was far from the only energy sapping result Arsenal had to grind out in the coming weeks.

A lung-busting, last-gasp, 3-2 home victory against a United side at its season peak. A gut-wrenching 0-0 against Newcastle at home where Arsenal threw all but the stadium battery at the Toon and came away with precious little.

Arsenal went behind at Aston Villa, only Zinchenko’s left foot forcing air into the lungs of a flat-lining team.

Relentless Arsenal pressure and Emi Martinez’s rear made it 3-2 Arsenal in the 93rd minute. A win from nowhere. Was this the sign of title winners?

And if we are to talk about wins from adversity, can we do so without mentioning Bournemouth? 0-2 down at home with 60 minutes on the clock, yet still they fought.

Two goals in eight minutes from Arsenal showed life, but a win looked lost with Saka urgently setting up a corner in the 97th minute.

A floated ball is headed away to Nelson on the edge of the area. Another underappreciated academy player, Nelson controlled sweetly before swinging his left leg with all his might, hammering the ball through a wall of players for the winner.

Pandemonium ensued, players from both sides collapsed in red elation and black despair. 

The Run-In

So resolve, yes, but all to maintain a five point gap on a City side that quietly kept accumulating points without ever really playing well.

Gary Neville suggested that such efforts being required so frequently and so soon in the season would leave Arsenal stretched in the run-in – words which appear prophetic in hindsight, much to the chagrin of the Arsenal faithful.

Arsenal’s run in has been discussed, discredited, even mocked by many. Ultimately, this young, passionate, and fearless Arsenal side ran out of steam.

Having lost their Rolls Royce centre half Saliba and the versatile Tomiyasu through injury, Zinchenko and Martinelli soon followed to the physio table, which coincided with Partey’s alarmingly vertiginous drop in form.

Injuries played a huge part, but so too did individual errors; Xhaka’s mindless aggression at Anfield, Saka’s missed penalty at West Ham, Ramsdale’s howler against Southampton.

The players must be commended for a phenomenal season, but they must also acknowledge that they, as a squad, just weren’t quite good enough to beat this City side.

This is in no way a criticism – few would argue that City are unmatched on this earth as far as football teams go this season. 

What If Moments

There are, of course, a few ‘what-if’ moments, which should be included for posterity more than anything else.

What if Arsenal had met Manchester City in October as initially proposed before the Queen’s passing, when Arsenal were fresh and revitalised and Pep was still tinkering, his team struggling to truly get going?

What if VAR had not been misused against Manchester United and Brentford?

What if Saka scored that penalty against West Ham?

What if Martinelli had found Saka at Liverpool, the score rocking at 2-2 in the 95th minute, a pass you would expect him to make 9 times out of 10 and which would have set Saka clear?

There are what if’s in every season, and their inclusion here will enrage any critic of Arsenal’s season.

Counterfactuals hold no weight other than to exemplify that the title was won on the finest of margins, even if the League table does not suggest as such.

Let's savour the 2022-23 season

In all, Arsenal fans must not forget the season just gone.

Club records tumbled. 100 goals scored in a season, the highest points tally since the Invincibles in 2003-04, the most wins ever recorded by Arsenal in a 38 game season.

Yet to quote such statistics really misses the point of what this season has been about.

Soul, intensity, and lightbulbs - hopefully each of these burns as bright next season.