To say David Raya’s reflex save from Ollie Watkins’ diving header could be enshrined in Arsenal folklore might sound a tad hyperbolic for the second weekend of the season.
But if that’s the case, blame Manchester City.
City’s relentlessness over these past six years has demanded perfection from rivals and has intensified analysis of every dropped point, as Arsenal know all too well.
Before the age of Pep Guardiola nobody let nondescript mid-season games gnaw away at them; nobody processed losing a title battle in May by pouring over regrets from August.
The 2-2 draw at home to Fulham and the 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage are the ones most Arsenal supporters think about in the small hours.
For Liverpool, there’s a 2-2 draw with Brighton in October 2021 that still smarts, and before that a 0-0 draw against a vulnerable Manchester United in February 2019 that proved the difference between nothing and everything.
Arsenal also have the two Aston Villa defeats haunting them.
Just one of those reversed and Mikel Arteta would have won the Premier League title in May, exactly 20 years on from Arsene Wenger’s third and final triumph.
It still hurts, and beating Villa on Saturday does not exorcise what came before, but in an era when every draw or defeat is lingered upon Raya’s save should not be downplayed.
It could be the moment that carries Arsenal up that final step.
WHAT. A. SAVE.
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 24, 2024
World-class from David Raya! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/XJQVTwE7ef
At this stage in their development what separates Arsenal from Man City is psychological as much as anything else.
Had Watkins scored and Villa won, a third in a row for Unai Emery could easily have knocked Arsenal off course.
Scrutiny would be back on Declan Rice, below his best in the second half of last season and made dizzy by Morgan Rogers at Villa Park. Scrutiny would be on the presumed mental block when it comes to Villa.
These things can kill momentum, especially in the shadow of the Man City machine.
The only team to break a six-year monopolisation by Pep Guardiola was a Liverpool outfit that continued momentum from a 97-point campaign by winning 26 of their first 27 Premier League games of the 2020/21 season.
That’s the level required to break Man City. So, had Arsenal lost at Villa they surely would not have had the mental strength to rise above Guardiola’s side and set an early pace.
Instead, victory offers the chance to replicate Liverpool in 2020.
Two clean sheets from two takes their calendar-year tally to 13 in the Premier League. Arsenal have conceded just nine goals from 20 league matches in 2024 and, bridging across the two seasons, are now on an eight-game winning streak.
These are the numbers Arsenal players hold in their heads as they seek to approach this season as a continuation of the last. As for building confidence, it helps to know there are still gears to move into.
The excellent pre-season form of Gabriel Jesus had many insiders predicting that Arsenal had found their reliable number nine without needing to dip back into the transfer market but Jesus has been restricted to just five minutes of Premier League action so far.
His return from a groin injury could be a huge boost.
Jurrien Timber is just now settling in following a season-long injury in 2023/24 while Riccardo Calafiori is a powerful left-back who together with Timber ought to shut down the left-sided vulnerability that contributed to both damaging results against Fulham last season.
Add the imminent arrival of Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad and Arsenal clearly have a stronger squad than this time last year.
They only need to make up a two-point gap to Man City. Two matches in and Arsenal are already three points better off compared to the corresponding fixtures last season.
It is no exaggeration to say that if Arsenal win the Premier League this year, Raya’s save will have been the catalyst; the initial spark required to begin the string of wins that knocked Manchester City off course.
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