The £50m Arsenal star was becoming the new holding, now completely irresistible.

A few weeks ago, Arsenal’s season seemed to be unfolding before our eyes.

The Gunners lost valuable ground to the title after losing twice to Manchester City, once in the Carabao Cup final and then in the Premier League.

Well, soccer is a funny old sport that can change in the blink of an eye. Arguably Arsenal’s best week of the season. They went into the Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid full of confidence after beating Fulham 3-0 last weekend and watching Man City drop a point to Everton on Monday.

There was no way they could lose this.

Mikel Arteta’s side performed well and produced a solid performance to win 1-0. The result gives them the chance to play in the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years since Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal’s heroes on Tuesday night

What an epic performance it was! Just over a month ago, confidence in the club was shattered. So this turnaround was very impressive.

The 1-0 win and 2-1 aggregate win meant it wasn’t comfortable, but such a raucous atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium helped the players on their way to a famous victory. It was probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever heard inside their new stadium. They haven’t won a Champions League semi-final since their days at Highbury.

Many of the red and white players who had been sent off scored goals, and several more, leaving Atlético Madrid with no choice but to accept defeat.

They certainly had Bukayo Saka to thank. He was the greatest hero of them all. He has been the go-to guy under Arteta and he has flourished again.

The goal, which he fired home from just a few yards out, was one of the easiest goals he scored in Arsenal colors, but it turned out to be the most important of his career to date. He is a man suited to big moments and scored in the semi-final last season as well.

He received great support from his compatriots Declan Rice and Miles Lewis-Skelly. Their partnership in the last two games has been breathtaking and Arteta deserves a lot of credit for making the adjustments.

Rice and Martin Zvimendi looked like they were tiring each other out, but replacing the latter with Lewis Skelly and moving the former a little further back in the holding role changed that. Arsenal’s Hale End prodigy has struggled for minutes this season, but his start from the center of the park in the biggest game of the season speaks volumes.

Saka scored and Rice went home with the man of the match award, but praise must also go to Victor Gokeres. The Swede could have and should have scored in the second period, but this was arguably his best performance for the club to date. He managed the channel like a dog. His work rate was amazing.

Everything he was criticized for during his time in north London was perfect this time around. His hold-up play, running and mentality were perfect.

The same goes for Ben White.

Arsenal’s £50m man back in form

One of the big criticisms Arteta has faced this season is the lack of rotation in the squad. That’s one of the reasons why Zvimendi looks so tired, and one of the reasons why Julian Timber’s performance declined before the injury.

But at just the right time, White regained his form and came back with an all-around bang. When he first joined the Gunners, journalist Tom Barkley hailed the defender as “one of the most promising players in English football”.

He quickly became a regular for England. He was one of the most important members of Arsenal’s squad, missing just one league game in his first year at the club. He played 46 games in the following season, and reached more than half a century in 2023/24.

However, the full-back has struggled with both form and fitness in recent years. White missed 33 games last season through injury, and despite returning to the England squad in 2026 and scoring in his return, he has not played much football again, largely due to Timber and Arteta’s lack of rotation.

White had made just one start in the league this season before Timber was injured in early April. He has now started three of the last four Premier League games, as well as both of the semi-finals.

Until Tuesday night, though, we didn’t see the best of the 28-year-old this season. He was becoming something like Rob Holding in title contention.

Thinking back to the 2022/23 season, the centre-back joined the team under eerily similar circumstances. William Saliba, like Timber, suffered an injury during the business stage of the 2025/26 season, and his replacement was a nightmare filled with mistakes.

With Holding’s arrival, Arsenal won their first two games 4-1, but their subsequent performance was dismal and they ultimately missed out on winning the league. They dropped points in each of their next four games, drawing 2-2 with Liverpool and West Ham, drawing 3-3 with Southampton and losing 4-1 to Man City.

Coincidentally, White’s return to the team meant Arsenal found themselves in a similar situation, losing to Bournemouth in the league, losing to Southampton in the FA Cup and being eliminated in the Carabao Cup final. White was particularly poor against Saints, misjudging the ball in the build-up to Ross Stewart’s goal.

However, he was back to his best form against Atleti in midweek. He put in arguably his best performance in a while and really turned the year around in a great way. I waited for a while, and this was a British gladiator-like expression.

He made six defensive contributions, recorded five recoveries and recorded four clearances. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but he played a key role in Saka’s development over the last two games.

As good as Timber is, no one understands the Arsenal star boy as fully as White. They worked well together, leading to a much improved performance in the final third.

The former Brighton man must have feared for his Arsenal career when he was sent off for Cristian Mosquera against Man City a few weeks ago. But now, he has become an unstoppable force once again.