There is a price that every football fan has to pay for watching their team try and win the league. Indeed, an emotional and physical pound of flesh that has to be handed over for the pleasure of doing so. What’s worse is the longer it goes on and the deeper a club ventures in pursuit of a league title, the more the stakes are raised. It is either going to be euphoria or heartbreak but there can be no turning back when eternal glory is within reach; everyone is far too committed and emotionally invested to opt out now.

In short, it’s all in and it’s petrifying.

The expectation is that Arsenal will win the league

This is the reality of Arsenal supporters as of early March and after a stunning late win against Bournemouth, where the winning goal was scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time, fans allowed themselves to dream once more of scaling the most impossible peaks. Perhaps what is even more frightening about being at these dizzy heights is the latest EPL betting odds now officially price the Gunners as the outright favourites at 5/6 to go all the way this season. In essence, it is no longer a small defiant minority expecting Arsenal to win the league but now also the most up-to-date Premier League betting markets in the land.

Granted, this new feeling of expectation makes you fear the worst. It is a foreign and uncomfortable place to be and, yes, it’s almost impossible not to live in perpetual fear of this title charge imploding at some stage.

What is the point of expecting the worst when the best keeps happening?

But all the while you fight the fear that comes with being the team tipped to win the league you are being given memories that will live with you for the rest of your days – surely that’s a good thing?

At least, Arsenal’s comeback against Bournemouth was just one of many moments this season when Mikel Arteta’s charges have spectacularly proved their title credentials when all hope seemed lost.

There was, after all, a 90th-minute winner against Manchester United at the Emirates which was later followed by a 93rd-minute strike from Jorginho at Villa Park that defied all rhyme and reason after it ricocheted off Emi Martinez’s head into the goal.

The point here is that after a Premier League trophy drought, Arsenal fans need no reminding that these heart-stopping moments may not come again for decades, so would it be more beneficial to try and enjoy the ride instead?

At least, is there a chance this fanbase will get to the end of the season on a sunny late spring afternoon at the Emirates and wished they hadn’t wished time by? At the end of the day, what will be will be and it would be a shame if this time passed any Arsenal supporter by after waiting so long to compete for English football’s greatest prize again.

This team won’t stop fighting

The only certainty this season is that Arteta and this brave Arsenal team won’t give up which should provide peace of mind during the darkest moments of the run-in.

To end off, take comfort from what talented scribe James McNicholas wrote following the win against Bournemouth: “There are two teams in the race for the Premier League, but Arsenal feels like the one truly fighting for it.”

Don’t shut your eyes or cover your ears, instead, drink in as much of the next three months as possible for this could be one of the all-time great seasons in Arsenal’s prestigious history.