Colin Sheridan: Small wins, big questions - Arsenal's marathon continues

A legend returns, wins immediately, and dares the world to follow her down the mountain. And really, who among us won’t watch?

TOO SOON: In football, history is baggage - heavy, monogrammed, and impossible to check in. Arsenal carry 20 years of not winning the league, the “Invincibles” shadow, the Emirates-era softness narrative, the legacies of departures (Wenger), false dawns (Emery), and rebuilds upon rebuilds. This weight is worth at least six points over the course of a season, usually deducted in instalments around March. Picture: HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

If there were league tables for premature coronations, Arsenal would have wrapped up the title by Halloween. By the start of Advent, some corners of the football-watching world had already begun drafting their open-top-bus routes, presumably looping around Islington like a festive sightseeing tour. And yet, as Saturday’s stuttering 2–1 win over Wolves suggested, the gap between looking like champions and being champions is large enough to contain all of Arsenal’s recent history, plus interest.

There is a particular kind of enthusiasm that surrounds a club which hasn’t lifted the trophy in a generation but keeps threatening to. Arsenal fans know it; neutrals recognise it; Sky Sports positively marinates in it. It is the sort of optimism that pops up annually like crocuses, often wilting by late April. This season, though, the crocuses emerged in November, fuelled by a spate of impressive, if not entirely flawless, performances. And so the talk began: this was finally Arsenal’s year. Or at least it would be, if you squared the league table, averaged it over expected goals, and selectively ignored Manchester City, a European campaign, December, injuries, and the general laws of sporting entropy.