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A long row of team photos line the corridor that leads from the players’ entrance at the Emirates Stadium to the media area, each taken at the beginning of a new season and featuring any trophies won in the previous campaign. Updated every year, it currently dates back to 2002 when Arsène Wenger masterminded the Premier League and FA Cup double that saw Arsenal come from behind to see off Manchester United in the title race, with the photo of the famous Invincibles proudly on display the next but one along.

That represents the last time they were crowned champions – 22 years ago, the longest Arsenal have gone without winning a league title since they claimed their first of 13 in 1931, when Herbert Chapman was at the helm. Walk a bit further and you will see several more FA Cups, including the victory in Mikel Arteta’s first season after he took over from Unai Emery in December 2019, before the silverware on show abruptly ends. But after three successive runners-up finishes, Arsenal suddenly find themselves within touching distance of winning back the trophy they covet more than any other.

Even if Manchester City beat Brentford on Saturday night to cut the gap to two points, Arteta’s side will be on the verge of winning the title should they overcome West Ham at the London Stadium less than 24 hours later. Arsenal’s final home game against already relegated Burnley next week should be an opportunity to extend their goal difference before travelling to Crystal Palace on the final day, with Oliver Glasner expected to make wholesale changes given his team’s involvement before the Conference League final three days later. Not that Arteta is even contemplating that prospect. “I don’t know where that theory is coming from,” he said before the trip to east London. “We have to be there, and we have to be better than the opponent and win the game, and if we do that, we will be closer, that’s for sure.”

There was certainly a marked change in mood from a manager who celebrated reaching the Champions League final on Tuesday for the first time since Wenger did it in 2006 by dancing on the pitch to an Arsenal song that mentions every first-team player as well as some of his catchphrases, like “make it happen”. Arteta was keen to park the prospect of the mouthwatering reunion against Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain, having also dismissed criticism from the so-called ‘celebration police’, and focus on West Ham, although he acknowledged that the momentum gained over the past week will only benefit Arsenal’s cause.

“I think we’re in a really good moment,” he said. “You could sense the energy the night after the game. I see every single day, here, I know how much we want it, and those are elements that are very, very positive. I think we have to channel that energy in the right way – it’s very, very powerful. They [the players] feel confident. They are convinced, and they are really looking forward to playing on Sunday. That’s probably the best part of it.”

Having seen their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple ended in March’s Carabao Cup final, there is still the possibility of Arsenal becoming only the sixth English team in history to win a league and European double. Somehow since losing to City at the Etihad last month and being knocked off the top of the table for the first time in 200 days, Arteta has managed to create a new spirit of togetherness among his players. The anxiety that plagued them during a miserable run in April that also led to eliminination from the FA Cup before losing to Bournemouth at home has been replaced with a steely determination that has seeped through the entire squad.

Arteta also cited a possible turning point – Declan Rice’s “It’s not over” rallying cry after the defeat at the Etihad. “I think that was the start of the sentence,” he added. “‘I think [it was] ‘It’s not done and we’re more confident that we’re going to do it’. That was the feeling without them even needing to express it in the dressing room. But I felt it immediately.”

The vast improvement of Viktor Gyökeres – who was left out against City but has nine goals in his past 11 appearances for club and country – Arteta’s “gut-feeling” about playing Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield against Fulham and Atlético Madrid and Bukayo Saka’s timely return to his best have also played their part in switching the narrative from bottlers to champions-in-waiting. All Arsenal must do now is take the final step.

“I said it three or four months ago when I said about handling this situation and it’s been exactly like that,” said Arteta. “The players have responded really well to that. We go there [to West Ham] understanding the importance of the match.

“What is driving and really pushing the team is that incredible will to win. We have shown throughout the last three or four seasons what we are capable of in terms of performances and consistency and now it’s about delivering when the moment matters the most.”