Just before the clock struck 5pm on Sunday evening, it officially became St Totteringham’s Day.
For those of you who have not heard of him, St Totteringham first moved to North London in 1913, and soon became the patron saint of bottles.
His annual feast day is celebrated by a small but vocal group of extremists in Islington annually, with the particular date changing from year to year, much like Easter.
In short, once Arsenal are guaranteed to finish above Spurs in the Premier League, the celebrations can begin. This year, however, the celebrations were the latest since there was no St Totteringham’s Day at all in 1995.
For the first time since Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal, Spurs were actually challenging for a title. They boasted some of the most exciting young attackers in England, which they backed up with the stingiest defence in the Premier League. Their young, innovative manager had just signed a new long-term contract. All they needed from their final game was one solitary point from the already-relegated Newcastle.
And then it all went wrong.
An afternoon to forget. pic.twitter.com/gapMiW64Xe
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 15, 2016
FULL-TIME: @Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa – the Gunners finish the @premierleague season in second position #AFCvAVFC pic.twitter.com/ZJj7NOTKk4
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 15, 2016
St Totteringham’s Day had officially begun, and Arsenal fans began celebrating joyously. But this year, the festivities felt different.
It’s not the first time St Totteringham’s Day had fallen on the final day of the season. This had happened as recently as 2012. Nor was it the first time Arsenal had trailed their rivals coming into the last game, as was the case in 2006.
But it was the first time in which Tottenham finishing above Arsenal would have felt like a power shift rather than an aberration. And you could see it in the reactions.
On the 12th anniversary of their greatest achievement (going through an entire league season unbeaten, in case you hadn’t heard) Arsenal fans were wildly celebrating the fact that it was them, and not their rivals, who finished ten points behind Leicester City.
Thank you @m8arteta @mathieuflamini #rosicky and happy St Totteringham's day pic.twitter.com/RY4YvmCkAP
— Laurent Koscielny (@koscielnylk6) May 15, 2016
There’s always been a rivalry between the two sides, with Spurs playing the little brother to the high-achieving Arsenal. But, despite Sunday’s results, the tide is turning.
Tottenham still have all of those things which terrified Arsenal fans a month ago. They may have been without Dele Alli or Mousa Dembele for the run-in this year, but they will be back next season.
The young core at Spurs will be more experienced than they were last year. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier are all 22 or younger. Christian Eriksen is just 24, as is Erik Lamela. Son Heung-min, who is just 23, will have a full summer with Mauricio Pochettino. Hugo Lloris is yet to hit 30, a time at which goalkeepers usually reach their peak.
Meanwhile down at the Emirates, Alex Iwobi and Hector Bellerin are the only Arsenal youngsters to have really improved this season. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s development appears to have stalled. Calum Chambers has taken a step back while Wenger appears to have no real faith in Joel Campbell.
Anyone got the score? pic.twitter.com/fGiMFiVEmo
— JB™️ (@gunnerpunner) May 16, 2016
This was a season in which the Gunners were humiliated in the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday and handily beaten in the FA Cup by Watford. In the Champions League, they recovered from two disaster defeats to Olympiakos and Dynamo Zagreb just in time to put up about 70 minutes worth of a fight against Barcelona, before inevitably collapsing.
“But hey, at least we finished above Tottenham,” they say. But for a club the size of Arsenal to not even really challenge for the title yet again and to then scrape by their rivals (who, let’s face it, bottled it massively) should not be cause for celebration.
The consistency Arsene Wenger has achieved at Arsenal is remarkable in every sense of the word. Over the last decade, they have finished above every single team in English football without ever winning the title. They have qualified for the Champions League for a 19th consecutive season but only ever looked like they might win it once.
Since the demolition of Highbury, Arsenal have been a work in progress. The only problem is that the project doesn’t appear to have any end in sight. They keep buying the same kinds of players and expecting different results.
Arsenal’s injury crises are too regular to be a coincidence. The club went beyond parody in 2014 when they signed Kim Kallstrom on loan despite the fact they knew he had a broken back.
For all they do right, there is something deeply wrong with the club. Consistency for consistency’s sake is pointless. What’s the use in building the foundations of something if you never finish the job?
But hey, at least they keep finishing above Tottenham.
