Arsenal are flying.
With a massive 8 points gap between them and the chasing pack and an easy North London Derby win at White Hart Lane for the first time since 2014, things have never looked better.
Even after their transfer target was hijacked by rivals Chelsea, the Gunners are in a buoyant mood, even if Gary Neville is trying his best to spoil that.
Interestingly, the ending of the beautiful weekend was nearly spoiled for the London side after the game was over.
Following the final whistle of the thrilling but rather one-sided match, Spurs’ Richarlison and Arsenal’s Ramsdale got into a shouting match, primarily instigated by the Brazilian. Richarlison can be seen shoving Ramsdale before someone comes in the way.
Seeing this, a Tottenham supporter jumped over the railing, climbed the hoarding, and kicked Ramsdale in the back before returning to the audience in the South Stand.
Ramsdale seemed unharmed and was carried away from the area by manager Mikel Arteta before celebrating in front of Arsenal fans at the opposite end of the stadium. However, after becoming aware of this situation, midfielder Granit Xhaka stormed towards the direction of the Spurs fans.
What had been one of the brightest smiles on Arteta’s face quickly morphed into one of the most terrified faces as he remembered all the episodes with Xhaka in the past.
Not letting the memories of countless fines and red cards consume him, Arteta sprinted behind the Swiss international to get a hold of him before he could reach the home fans. Imagine if, after all this success, he had to see a repeat of what Xhaka did against Burnley back in 2020. Scary, right?
Just take a look at the series of four photos. In the first – a joyous manager proud of his win. In the second – the mind and body, frozen in fear, quickly try to react to the situation.
In the third and fourth – the blur of Arteta’s speed as he tries to catch up to Xhaka and bring him back with the team.
The Spaniard managed to tame the beast before he did anything, but this made for one of the funniest memes to come out of the Premier League so far.
One of the best out of the lot was this throwback to the “Distracted Boyfriend” template, which shows a boyfriend looking at another girl while walking with his girlfriend. The expression of shock seen by Arteta is nearly replicated by the girlfriend in the meme, and the nonchalant walk of Xhaka captures the essence of the boyfriend. This meme was made for this situation.
Others went in the opposite direction – turning these photos into the template for future memes. Look at this one, for example, where a person points out how their mental health storms like Xhaka potentially disrupt their period of stability and productivity.
Another positive, for Arsenal supporters, that has come out of this is the level of trust that has been restored in Xhaka. He is now the team’s veteran big brother who is not hesitant to speak out for his teammates.
He is exhibiting more passion for the club than is typical, and following the Mudryk saga, they could use some of that passion.
Could this season be the one where Arteta’s project finally pays off, or would we see the spirits of the old come back to haunt him like they almost did with Xhaka last night?
