People will be waiting for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta to slip up - but it won't happen
Pundits are already recalling Arsenal blowing leads in the title race and all eyes will be on them as they have the chance to go six points clear at the Premier League summit on Sunday
Ever since we all began publishing league tables after one round of games, reading too much into early season fixtures has become an increasingly infectious disease. Twelve match days into the Premier League and Nottingham Forest are on their third manager, for goodness sake.
After the Manchester United-Everton contest completes the latest set of games, every team will have 26 left. There will be a long, long way to go. So, why does the North London derby somehow feel particularly significant for Mikel Arteta?
Well, there is a simple answer. Until his Arsenal team have an unassailable lead at the top of the Premier League table, every game will be particularly significant for Arteta.
Eleven matches in for Arsenal and it is already squeaky bum time. Considering the Gunners have not lost a Premier League game since August 31 - the 1-0 reverse at Anfield their only defeat in any competition this season - that is a faintly ludicrous thing to say.
But so many people are saying if Arsenal fail to win it this season, then Arteta will never have a better chance. And, particularly after the failure to win from a leading position in 2022-23, those same people will be looking long and hard for any sign of fallibility on Arteta’s or Arsenal’s part.
And the good news for Arsenal fans is that they will struggle to find one. Yes, the loss to injury of Gabriel, a supreme operator at the heart of defence this season, is a blow (although not as long-term a blow as was first feared) but Arteta now has a squad that can cope with physical setbacks.
Because of the patience shown by the club, Arteta has nurtured a squad that is a nice balance of new blood and ideas with youngsters who are maturing rapidly and great talent that has become nicely familiar with Arteta’s way of working. Players are being tied down to new contracts, the academy production line is whirring with quality and there is a tactical continuity, whatever eleven Arteta fields.
Never mind the minor blip at Sunderland last time out, this looks like an Arsenal team AND manager that has taken the final steps into title-winning maturity. But it has taken a while.
And that is something those who now make the executive decisions at Spurs should bear in mind. Patience is the new knee-jerk.
Thomas Frank has shown himself to be a fine long-term planner during his time at Brentford. And his start at Spurs has been steady rather than spectacular, although steady is what was required by those upstairs after the year of Big Ange.
It might not be what was required by sections of the fanbase but Frank comes across as a manager whose real impact will be slow-burning. So far, there have not been too many attacking pyrotechnics in his Tottenham reign but his side have conceded less than a goal a game, compared to the average of 1.7 per game under Postecoglou last season.
That is what good managers do. Make sure the foundations are sorted first. Again, that will take patience, the same patience shown towards Arteta.
From the outside, of course, a lot of pundits will judge Arteta game by game, waiting for signs that Arsenal might again allow a fine title opportunity slip by. And that is why this North London derby seems to be carrying even more significance than usual.
But almost six years after he walked through the managerial door at Arsenal, Arteta cuts a different character. He is comfortable, he has matured, he is calmer.
And, more importantly, he has a squad that can deal with setbacks … even if one of them arrived in the form of a North London derby defeat at the Emirates. By the very fact each club will have 26 games remaining, the title race will still be wide open after this latest round of fixtures. But whatever happens, Arteta and Arsenal will stay calm.