{"id":652175,"date":"2026-05-06T00:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T00:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:25:16","slug":"arsenal-premier-league-champions-league-double-how-fixtures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652175\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Premier League, Champions League double: how, fixtures"},"content":{"rendered":"

The slink inside, the shimmy, the stroke into the bottom corner, and just like that the weight of the world was lifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been a more cinematic Arsenal performance since Thierry Henry tore through Real Madrid like a bullet train in 2006. Watching Bukayo Saka sashay around Fulham felt almost as nostalgic. So draining has this run-in been, so fraught and frayed, we had almost forgotten this version of Arsenal even existed.<\/p>\n

Saka brought it all back in a crashing wave. Ah yes, Mikel Arteta\u2019s Arsenal, I remember now: a jaunty young team, all colour and light, the plucky under-dogs to Manchester City\u2019s oligarchs; the good guys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t much of that joy in a bruising yet brilliant victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday evening<\/a>, although the outpour at the final whistle and the wild celebrations that followed was like nothing the Emirates has ever seen; a bursting of the damn, a sign that the fear has gone and Arsenal that have arrived, ready to enjoy success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nevertheless it was the Fulham game that really did it, that rediscovered the playfulness and swagger upon which their more gruelling qualities were always built, that relaunched Saka in time to score a crucial winner this evening, and that allowed the supporters to exhale deeply, refill their lungs, and roar from the first whistle on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They fed the players, the players fed the crowd, and all of sudden Arsenal are two games away from an extraordinary season. Two games because only West Ham at the London Stadium stands in the way of the Premier League title, with Burnley at home a banker and Crystal Palace certain to play their reserves three days before the Europa Conference League final.<\/p>\n

And, by the way, two games away from a frantic rewrite. Football never tells an accurate history of its winners but rather a story that seems to thrive on romance and destiny, a childish retelling that betrays how much our pleasure remains wrapped up in childhood. There is no Manchester United bottle job in 2012\/13, just Sergio Aguero\u2019s goal. Liverpool\u2019s wobble last season has been airbrushed from history. So too will we erase the panic, the rage, the suckling City fan with the plastic bottle\u2026 as long as Arsenal go on and finish the job.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not done, to borrow a phrase. But the last 72 hours have released an almighty rush of endorphins, which, OK, wrenches open the bear trap of West Ham away, where defeat would make these last days the cruellest setup for the ultimate schadenfreude.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc40 Bigger than the World Cup final\u2026 <\/p>\n

In one match West Ham United Football Club have the ability to relegate Tottenham Hotspur \ud835\uddd4\ud835\udde1\ud835\uddd7 deny Arsenal the Premier League title. <\/p>\n

For the sake of football, and the content, and the memes, and the whole of humanity’s sanity\u2026<\/p>\n

West\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Np3sIQfbW5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Football Tweet \u26bd\uea00 (@Footballtweet) May 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But it just doesn\u2019t seem plausible right now, not after the thrashing of Fulham and the ecstasy of Atletico. Instead, Arsenal are set to receive the most audacious recalibration from those who were convinced of the choke: worthy champions, they\u2019ll be, iconic for climbing to the top of the mountain over five years under Arteta. The set-piece goals and the nervy 1-0s wins will form part of the narrative but what will form in memory is a simulacrum of what really happened: Saka swishing about, Declan Rice charging up and down, and Martin Odegaard pulling the strings.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the half-decade enterprise will inevitably be muddled together into a consistent whole, much in the way Jurgen Klopp\u2019s Liverpool are remembered by an XI \u2013 Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Henderson; Matip and Van Dijk; you know the rest by heart \u2013 that only ever played together once, in the 2019 Champions League final.<\/p>\n

Arsenal get their best team out more often than that, but not by much. If we want to reanalyse the 2025\/26 campaign to reflect more positively on the Gunners, without leaning entirely into sentimentality, then we might suggest that the turgid months in early 2026 had nothing to do with psychology or tactics but the far simpler explanation of injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Bukaya Saka celebrates his winning goal. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Between them Odegaard and Saka have missed more than half of Arsenal\u2019s games this season, while Kai Havertz has been fit to start six Premier League matches. Look back through the dropped points or the shaky 1-0s and every time, without fail, Arsenal are missing two or more of their first-choice attackers.<\/p>\n

Add the context of Arsenal\u2019s net spend and wage bill \u2013 well below City\u2019s, Liverpool\u2019s, or Chelsea\u2019s \u2013 and it\u2019s easy to see how success in 2025\/26 will be reframed once the present becomes the past and we see the wood for the trees. Either trophy would be an outstanding achievement. Even challenging is well above the mean.<\/p>\n

This is all premature, of course. Nothing has been won yet. There is time for a final twist that cements and enshrines the banter era. But Man City\u2019s 3-3 draw with Everton and the two Arsenal performances either side have unveiled a sunlit path. They can see the destination. We all can.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two games to become the second English team this century, and third ever, to win the Premier League and Champions League in the same season. It\u2019s there. Take it, and everything \u2013 the history, the future, perceptions of how the club got here and how they will be remembered \u2013 everything will change.<\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s remaining fixtures<\/p>\n

Monday 11 May, 1.30am AEST: West Ham, away<\/p>\n

Tuesday 19 May, 5am AEST: Burnley, home<\/p>\n

Monday 25 May, 1am AEST: Crystal Palace, away<\/p>\n

Sunday 31 May, 2am AEST: Champions League final, Budapest <\/p>\n