The club had been so happy with how things went before the Atletico Madrid match a few weeks ago they suggested for the Burnley match that fans “Greet the coach.” When I first saw the announcement from the club I thought it was some event where you get to see Mikel Arteta. But then I rewound in my head what happened before the Atletico Madrid match. They asked the fans to be in the road outside the stadium to welcome the team bus. Bus = coach.

It was quite early, though. They suggested arriving for the event at 5:45 p.m. and then the bus–er, coach–would come through at around 6:15. But the match would not start until 8, a long time to be at the stadium.

I decided I would go. Being all riled up before you enter the stadium seemed like a good plan for all concerned. I did take the precaution of acquiring a sandwich and some chips from Pret a Manger to eat before going into the stadium. The stadium grounds seemed kind of empty as I stepped out of the Arsenal station. I had expected a lot more people. But then I got to the west end of the stadium. It was packed. And the road beneath it was jammed with thousands of people. I waded in and joined the chanting. The fans went through all the player chants they could think of and then the general chants. Suddenly, people began lighting red flares and red smoke was everywhere. It had a pretty overwhelming smell but I found as a short person I could keep my nose mostly under it. And then, there it was, looming through the red smoke like a giant whale in bloody water. The coach carrying the players. Just as quickly, it was gone.

The fans gathered there hung out for quite a while. While I was waiting for the coach I had spotted the famous tunnel where an artist known as “Northbanksy” has placed graffiti art focused on Arsenal players. As many times as I’ve been to the Emirates, I never knew where it was. I wandered over and took some photos and then went back through the grounds and sought out a picnic spot. There is a lot of seating near the Tony Adams statue but I decided that the area near the Arsene Wenger statue would probably be a bit less populated. I would have one peaceful moment before entering the stadium.

As I walked over, I did notice a large group congregating by the statue. But I was right. On the benches facing the statue there was only one other guy. Like me, he had a Pret a Manger bag. We raised our bags toward each other in salute. And in front of the Wenger statue was an enormous group of delighted Asian Arsenal fans. They took dozens of pictures of their group in various poses in front of the statue. After enjoying his dinner, my picnic companion leaned in toward my ear as he left the scene. “They must have paid a fortune for tickets!”

Having eaten my sandwich I walked all the way around to the other side of the stadium and entered, made my way up to the concourse outside my section in the Clock end. There was so much time, I invested in a Guinness and watched the pregame analysis on Sky Sports as well as you can with no sound on the television. By then the starting lineup had been announced and it was a nice-looking one with Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze both starting in midfield and Kai Havertz at striker. Most else exactly as the game at West Ham, which started pretty similar to Fulham and Atletico Madrid. Big exception being no Ben White, who was seriously injured in the West Ham match. He won’t be back this season and was replaced in this match with Cristhian Mosquera. And of course with Odegaard in the lineup, Myles Lewis-Skelly was listed as a substitute.

Since I last wrote about Arsenal’s standings in the league, not much had changed except for after the win by Arsenal at West Ham, Man City had a match at home against Crystal Palace, which they won handily, 3-0. Which means no matter what happened in Monday’s match against Burnley, Arsenal could not win the league on Monday. And, if Arsenal did win the match, the title race was going to go into the last week, probably even into the last game. Man City had won the FA Cup on the prior Saturday against Chelsea. To be honest, they didn’t look like much but they had enough in the tank to win by scoring once, late in the match. Their next Premier League match would be Tuesday against Bournemouth. And then both Arsenal and Man City would have matches on the last day of the season, Sunday.

And if Arsenal did not win against Burnley? Well, technically all would not be lost but we’d be out of the driver’s seat. We’d have to hope for a lot of bad stuff to happen to Man City. A club for which not much bad stuff usually happens.

Burnley has a player formerly with Man City, Kyle Walker. I saw reports in Social media that Kyle Walker had promised Burnley would take something off Arsenal. Given the state of social media, I don’t know if that comment actually was made. I also saw that Man City’s coach, Pep Guardiola, had said he has “no doubts” that Burley could produce something. However, you ask yourself, if Burnley could win at will, why they didn’t win enough games to stay in the Premier League? Their relegation has been certain since April 22. And who did they lose to that day? Man City beat them 1-0 at the Etihad. Still, in their most recent match, they did manage a draw at Aston Villa, often a tough place to visit. And even though as a team they have very little reason to dedicate themselves to a win, the players have individual reasons to impress. When they go down to the Championship, Burnley might need to lighten their salary load so some players may find themselves sold back into the Premier League. Scoring a goal against Arsenal might give a Premier League team reason to consider your plight.

I made way to my seat where exactly one other person was already sitting in the row and it happened to be right next to my seat. We chatted a little bit about the seats (his was a season ticket), kids, jobs and, naturally, Donald Trump, as the section started to fill up. He told me my seat was owned by a guy who moved out of London and, yes, the change in match date and time had been what contributed to him selling on the exchange. The fan to my left also had bought his seat from a season ticket holder and was as delighted as can be to be there. He introduced himself to everyone around him and received a warm welcome. Speaking of warm, because it was a night game, there were cannons all along the East side of the stadium shooting flames into the air. We were far from the cannons but the warmth in the air when they shot into the sky was unbelievable. The people on the East side of the stadium must have been cooking.

Like every team, Burnley probably has three kits. The one they chose for this match, light blue and and lighter blue stripe, had an effect from distance similar to Man City’s home kit. It did make me feel uneasy.

The stadium was loud loud loud. North London Forever was about as intense as I’ve ever heard it and the chants were nearly nonstop. Because I was in the Clock End, Arsenal were driving toward the goal in front of me for the first half. Burnley started strongly and a bit worryingly, but Arsenal regained control. As expected, Burnley kept many players behind the ball at all times and breaking through was challenging. Working in such close quarters, Burnley would get the ball and lose it to pressure, followed by Arsenal getting the ball and losing it to pressure. There was a lot of time wasting, particularly by Burnley’s goalkeeper. Kyle Walker was booed every time he touched the ball.

Arsenal were able to get several shots off. One, by Saka, was deflected out for a corner kick. Saka took the kick and went short. Even though Arsenal fans seem to hate short corners, no one near me complained. There was a near-glorious moment a bit later when Leo Trossard took a thundering shot that hit the goal post farther from us. The ball rebounded to a place the nearest Arsenal player was unable to get to it. Not too long after that, Burnley managed a scary counterattack that ended with a misfired shot. Phew.

A bit later Saka drove into the box and as he went to kick the ball it looked like he was fouled. Never before in that stadium have I heard such sustained boos for the referee when he waved it away. The subsequent VAR check agreed with the referee. We didn’t like it. I’ve seen that one on TV after the match and still think it’s a foul on Saka. The defender only gets to the ball because he’s hooked Saka’s foot. I’m just glad Saka was not badly injured. That was one of those awkward moments where something bad can happen.

After some sweet team play ended with a shot by Odegaard being deflected, Arsenal were given another corner kick. Saka took the kick again, across the goal into a place that I think many goal keepers would be able to get to. Kai Havertz jumped into a cloud of blue shirts and had no problem hitting the target using his head. We went crazy as he ran in front of us to celebrate in the corner. A trademark set piece goal for this crazy season. A lot of hugs and high-fives in our section.

Saka had one more shot before halftime that wasn’t far from the goal, but a miss is a miss.1-0 as the stadium emptied out for beer and a bathroom break.

At this point, many teams might open up in quest of an answering goal, but it seemed Burnley were determined to limit the damage. They deployed roughly the same strategy in the second half as the first. It was frustrating for sure. There were a couple good Arsenal attempts on goal that ended with missed shots by Eze. There was at least one attack by Burnley into our end that resulted in an errant shot well above the goal. The most worrying event involved an incident with Kai Havertz. It occurred far from where I was and I did not have a good look at it. Havertz apparently fouled a Burnley player and received a yellow card for his troubles. But the incident went to a long VAR review to determine if it shouldn’t really be a red card. We would have played 25+ minutes with 10 men if VAR intervened.

VAR’s determination was that the yellow card was good enough. Gyokeres had been warming up on the sidelines before this was happening so perhaps the subsequent substitution Mikel Arteta made did not 100% reflect a decision to not take any chances with Havertz on a yellow that referees might be inclined to take make-up action on later. Whatever his reasoning, Havertz was removed for Gyokeres shortly thereafter in a three-sub replacement that also saw Myles Lewis-Skelly replace Eze and Hincapie replace Califiori.

At this point, the crowd was trying hard to stay behind the team but it had been painful. Not much good had happened. Not much bad either, but that’s besides the point. We were hanging onto a one-goal lead. Logically, Burnley had done very little to trouble us, but it only takes a moment. And we had taken a number of shots that for one reason or another failed to hit the target. Fouls were flying fast and furious. I was almost more worried someone would get injured. We need everyone to stay healthy.

That’s a lie I’ve told myself. The thing that had me more worried than anything was, without a doubt, that they might score.

The fourth official announced 7 minutes of added time we had to get through. Then David Raya was fouled badly and fell awkwardly right in front of us. He looked to be in a lot of pain but eventually was able to continue. And again, yes, I’m worried about injuries. Briefly. There were more Arsenal subs. And now, with the pause in play for David Raya’s injury and the subs, no one in the stadium knew how long we had to hang on for.

I’m dying.

After a long lifetime, the whistle blew. We had won. 1-0. I was shaking, more than I’ve ever experienced. And I’ve felt shaken at the end of a match many times this season.

And then, because it was the last home match of the season, even though it was late “on a school night,” most people in the stadium stayed in place to hear speeches by Martin Odegaard and Mikel Arteta and celebrate the players as they walked around the pitch to cheer and be cheered. When Mikel Arteta stepped to the microphone the stadium broke out in the must uproarious version of “We’ve got Super Mik Arteta” I’ve ever heard. It was repeated again and again, each time louder than the last.

He might never have gotten to speak, but he broke in. He sounded close to tears as he thanked everyone in the club and the fans for their support. He reminded us we have one more match in the Premier League to go after.

We would have to live in this uncertain world for one more week. After which we would know if we have what it takes to bring this title over the line.

Did I feel confident? I’m an Arsenal fan. We have been through so much. 22 years since we last took the title. I’ve been a fan for more than 15 of those years. Too much could happen. Has happened.

So, while I felt hopeful and I thought these players, this manager, could do it, “confident” was a bridge too far.