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How the ugly dissatisfaction at Arsenal has been amplified by joyful overachievers like Leicester
When it comes to figuring out what you want from your club as a football fan, there are usually three aspects to consider: being effective, winning things and bringing you joy.
Think of them almost as channels on a sound desk that affect each other. You can push them up but, at a certain point, things recalibrate. For example, an entertaining team that brings a lot of joy can be effective. But the more fun they are to watch then, generally, the less likely they are to win matches and trophies consistently.
Let’s take a look at Manchester City. We can all agree they are a very good side winning Premier League titles with an enjoyable style of play. But excelling as they have has meant shifting ambitions. Now, Champions League success is their ultimate goal, and while the league still remains a priority, another botched European campaign will dampen any domestic joy.
How about Liverpool – currently six points clear at the top of the Premier League and they, too, are a quality side who’s expansive, fast-paced football is perhaps the most watchable in Europe. But as the season wears on, they’ll be faced with a choice. As that first league title since 1989/90 comes into view, a side that struggles to register clean sheets (they have just 3 in 19 matches so far) will rein back on the waves of attacks, encourage the full-backs to be more cautious and use that three in midfield as more of a wall for the defence rather than a springboard for attacks. For true happiness, they will need to be less fun.
Similarly, at the other end of the table, the bottom three of Watford, Norwich and Southampton have tried to maintain an engaging style of play that has not worked and their respective fanbases are disgruntled. There is a sense heading into the Christmas period that curbing their more joyful instincts will aid survival prospects.
Sadly, it’s always joy that is sacrificed. The jeopardy of modern football encourages caution over creativity and you only need to look at the plights of clubs like Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City to see how the pursuit of more attractive football has ended disastrously.
Every now and again, though, a team cracks the code. Somehow striking the perfect balance to reach this football fandom equilibrium where all three facets are at the very limit, just before that tipping point, working beautifully in sync. Winning games in exhilarating fashion and with the sort of regularity that suggests something worthwhile, be it silverware or simply elevated status, is just around the corner.
Right now, that team is Leicester City.
Oh to be a fan of that club right now. To be privy to such thrilling attacking play led by Jamie Vardy, flanked by a creative trio of which James Maddison – young, exciting, English – is the jewel. To be able to call the midfield duo of Wildred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans your own, getting things done with so much responsibility and so little fuss that you’d trust them to drop your kids off at school.
Yet, despite Brendan Rodgers’ side being the second-top-scorers in the league with 27 goals, they do not simply run wild. No one has a meaner defence than theirs with just eight conceded in 11 games this season.
They are third in the table, eight points off top, sandwiched by Manchester City and Chelsea, the two sides to have lifted the Premier League title since the Foxes did so over three years ago. On Saturday, they welcome to the King Power Stadium an Arsenal side who are on the opposite end of the spectrum. A team out of sorts and devoid of the joy that used to be a guarantee even when trophies were not. Leicester on the road is a bad fixture at the best of times, but it takes on an extra spice given where these two are at.
The Gunners are winless in their last three matches, while the hosts have registered three victories. Their record against top three opposition away from home is not pretty (no wins in their last 11) and Vardy, the man Arsenal tried to sign three summers ago, averages a goal a game against them. A tough place for Unai Emery to celebrate his 50th game in charge. An understandable place for it to be his last.
It’s difficult to know what Arsenal can get from this game. A win, as unlikely as it may be given how disjointed they are on the pitch, will not offer any closure on the captaincy or Emery’s future. Defeat, though welcome from some of the away support if it means an end to the Spaniard’s tenure, will be another feather in Leicester’s cap.
That’s the other thing. Arsenal’s dissatisfaction is amplified by what Leicester have been able to achieve and the manner in which they have achieved it. There is a clear view on tactics and recruitment and, in Rodgers, they have a coach whose stature is growing along with the club.
The previous meeting that sticks out between these two sides came during the Foxes’ title-winning campaign when they fell 2-1 to a last-minute Danny Welbeck header. Arsenal believed they were back in the title race and many thought this was the end of the fairy tale for Claudio Ranieri’s men. But while Arsenal fell away, Leicester, to the surprise of everyone, kept going, and it seems the qualities that took them over the line then are still dear to them now.
They can appreciate the uniqueness of being a club of their stature duking it out at the top, even if they won the whole thing a few moons ago. They are not getting ahead of themselves, nor are they overwhelmed.
Continued excellence will challenge this, of course. Once the onus is on Leicester to be a consistent top-four side, then will come the discontent when things go even slightly awry. As Arsenal fans can attest over the last couple of months, setting high standards not just raises expectations but means aggravation is never more than a poor result away.
But Leicester do not need to worry about that yet. For now, they are thriving in the moment and enjoying their football with a sense of freedom and a distinct lack of jeopardy. It’s not just Arsenal fans who will be jealous of that.
