UNBEATEN in 18 league games sounds like title form. Statistics are deceptive. For Arsenal that streak, studded with too many draws, has been a case of battling their way out of the Premier League's remedial class and back into the elite. Recently, they have done it in style. After failing to score a league goal in February, they have scored 16 in their last five league matches.
Having all but secured fourth place in the table, Arsenal can now focus their relatively limited resources on two cup semi-finals. Manchester United loom large in the Champions League, while this afternoon's one-off FA Cup semi at Wembley pits them a
gainst Chelsea.
The attitude at the Emirates earlier in the season was so despondent that you would have expected a callow side to be swatted away by the imperious United and the powerful Chelsea. However,
Arsene Wenger's bright young things face Roman Abramovich's mercenaries at a time when the Chelsea players are likely to be elated by their win in the Champions League quarter-final, but emotionally and physically exhausted by the extraordinary nature of its achievement.
Arsenal's quarter-final against Villarreal was a day later, but substantially less demanding. Youthful energy also has its benefits, particularly in the case of Theo Walcott, a player who has missed so much of the season that he is endeavouring to pack a year's worth of highlights into the handful of games left.
It might seem an obtuse judgment given the enthralling 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge, but Arsenal are still the most watchable English team. Walcott is one of those rare players who provokes the anticipation of something special every time he has the ball at his feet. Cesc Fabregas' passing can be as original and visionary as a Velazquez masterpiece. The more experienced international trio of Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin are showing their class allied to a resolve that you might not have associated with their reputations.
Like the Liverpool of recent seasons, Arsenal now look like a great Cup side, capable of enthralling heroics over 90 minutes, less assured over 38 matches. Arsenal's present form might have Arsene Wenger, right, brooding pensively over all the draws that blighted the team's title hopes over the winter.
Actually he is probably too astute to waste time on might-have-beens. Those dropped points were a side-effect of the kind of team he is trying to build. Some of those draws came against sides, Everton, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, playing reductive styles against a team that lacked sufficient brawn and experience to rise above them. It is still an issue which needs to be addressed, but the indications are that Arsenal thrive against teams that play open football.
Injury to William Gallas has underlined Arsenal's deficiencies. They need leadership and presence at the back. The back four that played against Villarreal on Wednesday is a pale echo of the formidable back-lines that used to characterise Arsenal.
Emmanuel Eboue still seems psychologically fragile, one mislaid pass away from further castigation from the stands. Mikael Silvestre offers occasional reminders of why Sir Alex Ferguson was prepared to release him. In the centre, the raw Kieron Gibbs had a happier game than he had experienced against Wigan in the league. Kolo Toure gives the impression of needing a reassuring presence alongside him to perform to his full ability. It might be sensible for Wenger to buy Matthew Upson back from West Ham in the summer to add resilience. In the meantime, the injuries to Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Johann Djourou have left Wenger with few defensive options.
A key ingredient of Arsenal's resurgence, though, has been the unexpected excellence of Alexandre Song in midfield. If hardly an enforcer in the Patrick Vieira mould, he has filled the Matthieu Flamini role creditably, offering a tidy versatility and an increasingly robust presence (for want of a better measurement, five yellow cards this season is indicative of a willingness to get stuck in). Wenger's dilemma this afternoon will be whether to draft Song into a makeshift defence, or keep him in midfield to counter the not-inconsiderable influence of Michael Essien.
With Eduardo returning to fitness, Wenger has a relative abundance of attacking options. Tuesday's match, and Chelsea's second-half anxieties against Bolton in the league last Saturday, will have suggested vulnerability at the back. Given their own weaknesses in defence, Arsenal's best chance is to carry the game to Chelsea and exploit Walcott's pace, and the vision of Fabregas and Arshavin.
Wembley will be an intriguing appetiser for a month of showdowns with the three sides above Arsenal in the table. The caprices of the fixture calendar have left Wenger's side not only with the opportunity to complete a surprisingly successful season themselves, but also to bestow the crown on the eventual Premier League champions.
With league games to come against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United, Arsenal's form and commitment will be the arbiters in the destination of the title.
Two goals from Van Persie won the game for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in November. He will be keen to upset his Dutch compatriot Guus Hiddink, but there are several other piquant individual scenarios.
Arshavin finds himself up against his national team manager (not to mention Abramovich, the man who bankrolls the Russian FA). For Chelsea, meanwhile, Ashley Cole will find himself facing a vociferous slice of North London.
Welcomes for former Gunners are usually warm, but there may be an exception in his case.
