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Chapter 48: Gunners, Reignited
🕑 Added 2025-05-23 15:33:57 +0000 UTCIn the dim light of his office, Wenger sat quietly, Kai's latest vlog playing on the monitor in front of him.
After a while, he took off his headphones and let out a slow breath.
"That's… really something," he murmured, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Don't give up..." The words echoed in his mind.
Elsewhere, Arsenal players—both current and former—had watched the video too.
Their reactions varied.
Some were visibly moved. Others kept their thoughts to themselves. A few looked unimpressed, and some seemed conflicted. But none of them could deny it—this short video was going to leave a mark on Arsenal.
Luis Suárez removed his earphones, his eyes burned with renewed intensity.
Cazorla stared at the Arsenal crest on his shirt in quiet reflection.
Arteta sat alone in the backseat of a car, gazing out at the city, lost in thought.
Vermaelen stood at a window, overlooking London, his expression unreadable.
That night, sleep was a luxury few of them could afford.
...
[Oak Bar, Woolwich]
Kelvin Meadows sat at the bar, his phone in hand and earphones in place, completely tuned out from the noise around him.
His eyes were distant, as if lost in a memory.
Then, without warning, he let out a long sigh and broke into a grin. "Not bad, kid... 'Don't give up,' huh?" he chuckled to himself.
He turned his head, staring up at a black scarf hanging above the wine rack. For a moment, he just stared. Then, like something clicked inside him, he brought his fist down hard on the counter.
The bar suddenly fell quiet.
Heads turned. All eyes were on him.
Kelvin stood up, looked around, and asked, "Tell me—what's the atmosphere like at our home matches these days?"
There was silence for a moment.
Then he pointed at a stocky man across the room. "Sean, you tell me. What's it like?"
Sean rubbed the back of his neck, reluctant. "It's… not good. Sometimes it's good, but most times...just bad. They call us the library now."
That opened the floodgates.
"Back when you were leading chants, we could rally the crowd," someone said. "Now? Nobody steps up. It's like we're waiting for someone else to do it."
"The away fans drown us out," another chimed in. "We try to push back, but no one joins in."
"We don't have your presence, boss."
"Honestly, it's not just on the players—we, the fans, we've been falling short too."
One by one, the voices added to the growing wave of discontent.
Kelvin gave a slow nod, then clapped his hands decisively.
"Alright then. Next home game, we regroup. We're taking back the stands."
Stunned silence.
Then Kelvin climbed onto the bar, raised his voice, and roared: "This is Arsenal!"
The room erupted.
"Damn right!"
Kelvin pounded his chest and bellowed, "We are the Gunners!"
"Damn right!"
He threw his fist in the air. "Let's go, Gunners!"
Emotions overflowed. Shouts echoed around the bar, fists raised high.
"Crush them!"
...
The next day at training, Kai noticed the shift immediately.
The atmosphere was different. Everyone trained with a sharpness that hadn't been there before. Passes were crisper. Runs were harder. There was more shouting, more coaching, more... urgency.
Disagreements happened, sure, but they came from a desire to improve.
Even the coaches gave him odd looks—curious, amused, maybe even a little impressed.
Kai couldn't quite describe it, but it reminded him of seeing a giant panda for the first time as a kid, his father standing beside him.
...
Arsenal scraped out a win at home. It wasn't pretty, and for a while, they looked like they might collapse. But due to crucial substitutions were able win.
If they'd lost their opener at the Emirates, who knows how deep the hole might've been.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton, West Brom, and Swansea also opened with wins.
Chelsea's new signing, Hazard, looked sharp, assisting Ivanović just two minutes in, and Lampard added a long-range strike by the 7th. They beat Wigan away, and both Torres and Mata played, though Torres continued to underwhelm.
United, meanwhile, got smacked around by Everton. Fellaini ran the show.
Liverpool suffered a 0–3 loss to West Brom.
Then came Round Two: Arsenal away at Stoke City.
Stoke was still one of the few sides clinging to old-school English football—tough, tall, aerial bullies.
They didn't call it the City in the Sky for nothing. Their average height was close to 190 cm, with Crouch, their 201 cm striker, a looming threat on every set piece.
Kai started on the bench as Wenger wanted more attacking flair.
The game was brutal. Stoke's high-ball tactics kept Arsenal on their heels.
Crouch's timing was unreal—while Arsenal's defenders strained for height, he barely needed to jump.
To make things worse, Crouch had history as a Spurs man, part of the trident with Bale and Modrić that once made Tottenham dangerous.
But Tottenham had changed. Modrić's move to Real Madrid this summer hit them hard, just like van Persie's departure hurt Arsenal.
Back to the match: Arsenal battled, but the breakthrough never came.
Suárez and Cazorla worked tirelessly. Arteta tried to keep things moving. Kai was subbed later on to help.
He helped stabilize the defense against Stoke's long balls and kept Crouch quiet by getting the balls first.
He tried long passes from deep, but they were easily cleared due to the height and physicality difference. The few that were successful were not capitalized by his teammates.
The game ended in a goalless draw.
They had issues, no doubt sometimes.
Ramsey looked hesitant from time to time. Diaby could ghost for periods of play. Arteta was buried under pressure.
Kai did his job defensively, but he wasn't ready to dictate play.
Some pundits even turned their fire on Wenger.
Arsenal has money, but they're still soft.
The club remained silent. This was football.
When you win, everything's fine.
When you lose, you take the heat.
At least the media hadn't singled out Kai. Maybe they'd forgotten about him—or maybe they didn't see him as someone who could make a difference just yet.
...
Another week, another away game. This time: Liverpool.
A tough stretch. And personal for Suárez—his return to Anfield.
From the moment he stepped onto the pitch, the boos came raining down. Liverpool fans made their feelings clear.
Suárez didn't hide his discomfort.
The first half was tight. No goals, end-to-end play.
Arteta struggled. Under relentless pressure from Liverpool's midfield—especially Gerrard—he couldn't find the rhythm he needed. Cazorla kept dropping back to help out.
In the 67th minute, Sterling finally broke through for Liverpool with a fierce strike.
Sterling wasn't yet the star of the England national team, but the talent was undeniable.
Liverpool led 1–0.
Then Cazorla turned it up—threading passes, dancing past challenges.
His brilliance set up a golden chance, and Chamberlain buried it.
The young winger, just subbed on, scored his first league goal.
He tore away in celebration, overwhelmed with joy.
Kai came on in the 70th minute. His defensive contribution was solid, though he didn't get involved in the attack much.
But in those 20 minutes, he felt it—the midfield battle, the need for a general who could read the game, control the tempo.
Now he understood why Arteta looked so lost sometimes.
Kai helped ease the pressure on the defense, hoping to release Arteta to do his magic.
And he did.
Arteta came out of his daze late in regulation time. He and Podolski worked a series of passes to beautifully assist Suarez to deliver the dagger into Liverpool's fans hearts.
The match ended 1–2.
A hard fought away win.
Three games in, Arsenal sat 5th in the table: two wins, one draw.
Not bad for a club that went through major restructuring during the offseason.
