Picture the scene. Molineux. Facing the bottom club in the Premier League. Two goals up. The opportunity to extend the lead in the title race. And then, nothing. Two goals conceded from nowhere, a draw that felt like a defeat, and within minutes, the British football media had sharpened their knives, dusted off the word "bottlers," and started filing their copy.

I've watched this club for thirty years. I know exactly what comes next. The same pundits. The same hot takes. The same lazy narrative. Arsenal can't handle the moment. Arteta doesn't have it. They'll crumble again.

And then Mikel Arteta walked into the press conference and said what he said.

"Any question, any criticism, any opinion, you have to take it on the chin today. Any hit, any bullet, take it." And then, looking ahead to the North London Derby: "What is this team made of? What do we do about this and how we write our own destiny from here and going forward?"

That's not a man cracking under pressure. That's a man who knows exactly what he's building and who it's being built for.

Let's be honest about something. Arsenal Football Club, at its highest level, has never been a place for the faint-hearted. The Invincibles weren't unbeaten because they got lucky. The Double teams of the late nineties weren't champions because they were talented and comfortable. They were champions because they were relentless. Physically and mentally relentless.

What Arteta is saying, what he has been saying in different ways for four years now, is that this squad is being built to the same standard. Not just technically. Not just tactically. Mentally.

"It's becoming more and more exciting because that means that you are closer. The more repeatedly you are in these kinds of positions, you're going to win it."

That line from his pre-Tottenham presser barely got a headline. It should have been the headline. Because Arteta is describing something that takes years to build, the ability to stay in the fight when everything is conspiring to break you.

I'll name them because vagueness is cowardice. Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, men who have spent the last three seasons measuring Arsenal by their worst moments while ignoring their best ones. Men who reach for "bottlers" before they've even looked at the table.

Here's what they won't tell you: Arsenal lead the Premier League. Arsenal have Odegaard and Havertz returning for a North London Derby against a Spurs side hovering above the relegation zone. Arsenal drew a game they should have won against the bottom club and they still lead by two points.

If Manchester City had done what Arsenal did at Wolves, it would have been called resilience. It would have been called "finding a way." With Arsenal, it's called a mentality crisis.

I'm done pretending this isn't deliberate.

This is the part that Arteta understands better than any pundit picking up a Sky Sports pay cheque. Silverware doesn't go to the most talented squad. It goes to the squad that can lose two points to the bottom club on a Tuesday night, drive back to London, train on Wednesday, and then walk into White Hart Lane on Sunday like they own the postcode.

That is what this club demands. That is what it has always demanded. At the end, you have to show the mental strength on the pitch when it comes to matchday. Arteta has said that in a dozen different ways. He means it every time.

The fans who are panicking right now, I get it. Years of hurt will do that to you. But panicking is not the same as being weak. The panic comes from love. What Arteta is asking for is that the love doesn't turn into doubt. That when the moment comes, and today is that moment, we back the team the same way they're backing themselves.

If you're a fan who needs calm and certainty and no turbulence, this might not be the club for you right now. And if you're a pundit who needs Arsenal to fail to feel relevant, you've picked the wrong season.

Arteta didn't lose the plot this week. He told the truth. Arsenal isn't for everyone. It never was. The mentally strong stay. The rest watch from the outside.