Martin Zubimendi says he wants to see Arsenal fans turning London red if the club completes a rare season that could still end with silverware. The 27-year-old midfielder, a summer signing who has already made 54 appearances for Arsenal this season, said the squad can feel how close it is to something big.
“We see that we are close, that we can do something great, and we are looking forward to it, as well as being able to celebrate a possible feat,” Zubimendi said. “If we can achieve it, it will be an important moment for the fans. I hope London is dressed in red and I think that, for everything I have lived through this year, I want to think it will be a unique day.”
That hope is tied directly to the weeks ahead. Arsenal need two Premier League wins from their final two matches to take the championship, and they also need one win in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain to lift that trophy. The club has already drawn up plans for a possible parade on 31 May, the day after the final, though those plans will be scrapped if the season ends without a title.
Zubimendi’s comments carry extra weight because his season has been relentless. He has started 47 of his 54 appearances, but recently dropped out of Arsenal’s starting eleven amid suggestions of fatigue and Myles Lewis-Skelly’s emergence in central midfield. Even so, he remains central to the conversation around a team that has spent much of the campaign on the edge of something major.
He said the scale of the moment is felt differently inside the dressing room, especially at a club where some players have waited years for this kind of chance. “It would be incredible,” he said. “It is true that we have not felt [not winning the league] as much as the fans and the [other] players, who have lived it for years with that desire to win this title.”
“But well, this year I think they have transmitted to all of us the desire and the expectation around that, and also those who have more experience here,” he added. Arsenal now have two league games and one European final left to decide whether those expectations become a parade or another season of what-ifs.
