To suggest Arsenal’s trip to West Ham on Sunday is a big game for both clubs is a mammoth understatement.
Three matches separate the Gunners from a first league title in 22 years. For West Ham, there are three games left to avoid the potentially ruinous consequences of relegation to the Championship. The stakes, at opposite ends of the table, could hardly be higher.
Arsenal head to east London buoyed by Tuesday night’s emotional victory over Atletico Madrid, a result that secured the club’s first Champions League final appearance since 2006. The scenes at the Emirates afterwards were euphoric, players, staff and supporters united in celebration after one of the most significant nights the Emirates has hosted.
Inevitably, some outside the club questioned whether the celebrations had gone too far given Arsenal are still yet to win anything. Mikel Arteta, however, was unapologetic. While insisting it was important to savour the moment, he also made clear the focus shifted quickly to what comes next.
In his [pre-game press conference](https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-artetas-pre-west-ham-presser-2), he said: “We talked immediately after the game, and this is great, what a moment, we earned it, we’ll have time to prepare and get ready for that final, but now the focus, the attention, the detail, the energy, everything has to be put into West Ham, there is nothing else there, and we made it very clear.”
“Understanding the context of the game for both clubs, it’s huge, obviously. We know the importance of it, we know what we want, and what we have to do to win the game.”
Manchester City’s dropped points at Everton earlier in the week have only sharpened the sense of opportunity. Whatever Pep Guardiola’s side does against Brentford on Saturday, Arsenal will kick off at the London Stadium still in control of the title race. Victory would, at the very least, preserve the current five-point gap with time rapidly running out for City to claw it back.
The title race has swung back and forth repeatedly since the turn of the year. Arsenal surrendered a healthy advantage, regained it, and have had to weather fresh questions about whether they can cope with the pressure. Now the challenge is to channel the energy generated by Tuesday’s win into the final stretch of the campaign.
Certainly, among supporters, there is a growing feeling that the momentum has shifted again.
Asked about the connection between players and fans, Arteta said: “It’s crucial, immense and needed, because what they can provide when we get the stadium into that emotional state, to that level of connection with the players, it’s just incredible.
“The players described it, they’re the most important ones, and they described it like they never had that feeling before in the stadium, and they make them better.”
Arteta himself was swept up in the emotion on Tuesday night, embracing anyone in red and white within reach and even breaking into a brief dance during the celebrations. Yet he insists the switch back into work mode happened almost immediately.
“I was in a really high emotional state after the game \[on Tuesday\] because we know what it means to everybody, to the club.
“You could tell what it means to everybody, to our supporters, players, staff but straight after the game, you have to believe me, straight after that, my concentration, my focus, my energy was, ‘OK, West Ham, what do we have to do on the mental side, physically, tactically, technically, to prepare in the best possible way to go there and win the game?’ That’s it.”
It was fun to see the manager loosen up, even if only briefly. Few people have worked harder to restore Arsenal’s standing over the last six and a half years, and few have absorbed more pressure, scrutiny and criticism along the way.
Tuesday night felt, in part, like a release for Arteta as much as anyone else. Yet if he sounded slightly stern in his determination to draw a line under the celebrations, he was also keen to stress that the burden people assume he carries is offset by how much he enjoys the role.
“I enjoy every day. I enjoy every day with the boys, with the staff. I love what I do, so I feel very privileged with what I do. I enjoy it, but those periods are very short.
“I enjoy preparing a lot, the game against West Ham now, and understanding what we have to do, trying to pick the right topic, trying to understand very well our players, the situation that we’re going to generate in the game, how the game can pan out, how we can change it if we need to. So, that’s what I like.”
It is a revealing insight into how Arteta operates. The emotional moments matter to him, clearly, but they never seem to last long before his mind shifts back to the next detail, the next opponent, the next potential problem to solve.
Clearly, he wants everyone around him pulling in the same direction for at least another month, delivering this message to players and supporters alike.
“Stay present, live the moment, prepare and show the same level of energy, hunger and desire that we’ve shown all season, or more, because we are closer and closer, and everything that we do now is going to matter to win it or not.”