We beat Burnley 1-0 at the Emirates on Monday night to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with one match remaining. Kai Havertz headed in from Bukayo Saka's corner on 36 minutes, and that single goal was enough to record a fourth straight league win in a spell that has taken us from three points clear to the verge of the title. City must now beat Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday evening to keep the race alive. If they fail to win, we are Premier League champions for the first time since 2004.

The scoreline does not reflect the evening. We hit the woodwork twice, had a legitimate penalty appeal waved away, and finished with 62 per cent possession and 13 shots to Burnley's five. Burnley did not manage a single shot on target across 90 minutes. I have watched us win more comfortably this season and felt less relieved at the final whistle. A 1-0 with the title on the line carries a weight that a 3-0 in November cannot replicate, and the Emirates knew it from first minute to last.

Burnley came to sit deep, and for half an hour they made it work. Kyle Walker, at 36 returning to north London in the colours of the league's bottom-three side, organised a low block that dared us to find a way through. We kept the ball, moved it side to side, and created half-chances without ever truly threatening to score from open play. Trossard struck the base of the post from outside the area. Eze's flick and turn drew a save from Max Weiss. A miscued Saka cross nearly crept in at the far post. Each time, the net stayed empty, and you could feel the ground starting to tighten.

On 33 minutes, the tension should have broken. Havertz played a low ball across the six-yard box, Saka was certain to tap in, and Lucas Pires brought him down from behind. Referee Paul Tierney waved play on. VAR supported the decision. Replays showed Pires did not get the ball. Arteta was incandescent on the touchline, and he had every right to be.

Three minutes later, it stopped mattering. Odegaard's shot from a cutback deflected wide off Lesley Ugochukwu, and from the resulting corner, Saka delivered and Havertz rose highest between two Burnley defenders to head firmly into the net. It was our 18th goal from a corner in the Premier League this season, which accounts for more than a quarter of our 69 league goals. Set pieces have defined this squad across four seasons under Arteta, and in the match where the title was on the line, they delivered again.

For Saka, the assist was his 50th in the Premier League. Only Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Mesut Ozil have provided more in Arsenal colours. He is 24 years old. The company he keeps already tells you what kind of career he is building, and the fact that the milestone came from a corner in a title-defining match feels entirely fitting for a player whose biggest contributions so often arrive at the moments of highest pressure.

Arteta started Havertz ahead of Viktor Gyokeres. That selection raised eyebrows given what was at stake, and it is worth examining why it worked and what nearly undid it.

Havertz justified the selection with his movement. He occupied Burnley's centre-halves in a way that created space for Saka and Trossard on either flank, he provided the physical presence at set pieces that produced the goal, and he has now scored more Premier League goals against Burnley than against any other opponent. Arteta knows this player, knows what he finds against specific opposition, and backed that knowledge at the biggest moment of the season.

The problem arrived in the 65th minute. Havertz left a raised boot on the back of Ugochukwu's calf. It was reckless, late, and it looked like a red card in real time. On replay, it looked worse. VAR reviewed and elected to let Tierney's non-decision stand. I am not going to dress that up. If the same challenge had been committed by a Burnley player on Saka, every Arsenal supporter in the ground would have demanded a sending-off, and they would have been right to. Havertz was fortunate. We were fortunate. In a title race decided by these margins, fortune is a resource, and we spent some of it on Monday night. The question is whether we have enough left for Crystal Palace.

Eze struck the crossbar with a header early in the second period, and that was the moment where a comfortable evening died. At 2-0, the last 40 minutes become routine. At 1-0, they became an exercise in controlled anxiety.

Burnley sensed it. Jaidon Anthony broke clear after Eze gave the ball away cheaply in midfield and drove a shot over the bar. Anthony then delivered a dangerous cross that no Burnley player attacked, but the intent was there for the first time in the match. For a spell between the 55th and 65th minutes, the Emirates carried a tension that no home ground should carry against a side with four league wins all season.

Arteta responded with a triple substitution on 72 minutes: Gyokeres, Max Dowman, Myles Lewis-Skelly. The changes freshened the press and restored our control of territory in the final third. We did not find a second goal, and the closing 20 minutes were managed rather than enjoyed, but the anxiety subsided and the result never seriously looked in danger after that. The defence, with Cristhian Mosquera stepping in alongside Saliba and Gabriel in the continued absence of Timber and White, was excellent throughout. They have now conceded zero goals in our last four Premier League matches.

We have 82 points from 37 matches. City have 77 from 36. If City beat Bournemouth on Tuesday, they go to 80 and we travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday needing a win to be certain. If City draw or lose at a ground where Bournemouth have lost only twice all season and are riding a 16-match unbeaten run, the trophy is ours before we even arrive at Selhurst Park.

Since the 2-1 defeat at the Etihad a month ago, this squad has won four consecutive league matches, conceded no goals in that entire run, and answered every question the media and the opposition have thrown at us. The Newcastle win returned us to the summit. The Fulham, West Ham and Burnley results have kept us there. The title has been in our hands since April 25, and we have not let it slip.

I have supported this club for 30 years. I have waited 22 of them for a league title. We are 90 minutes from ending that wait at Selhurst Park on Sunday, and I cannot remember wanting a single football match more than I want that one.