Yeah, it will be a tough, bitter pill to swallow for everyone connected to Arsenal should they see Manchester City overrun them in the final straight. But that's not going to take away from what has been achieved this season.
A Carabao Cup final. A Champions League semifinal. And a proper, proper Premier League title challenge. All with a team jam-packed with players who's best years are still way, way ahead of them. Lifting the Premier League crown at Selhurst Park after the final whistle is blown would obviously be a season target fulfilled. But as much as the game at this level is about trophies, it's actually more than that. The real achievement is sustained success. A winning dynasty.
The Manchester United of Sir Alex. The Manchester City of Pep. This is the real goal for those working at the very elite level of this sport. And for this column, no matter what happens come the final game of this season, Arsenal are well placed to build and achieve such an era.
David Raya in goal. Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba at centre-half. Declan Rice holding in midfield. And a Viktor Gyokeres who has grown as his first season has worn on. Again, outstanding players, but more importantly, players with so much room for improvement. It's as good a team's spine as anything you'll find across Europe - including Luis Enrique's PSG. A foundation and springboard to build something exceptional in the coming years.
Indeed, as Football Presse brought to you this week, no-one inside Arsenal are sitting on their hands as the team remains alive in the Premier League and Champions League. Andrea Berta, the Gunners' football director, was in Istanbul last weekend to see the derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. Those close to the Italian say his prime focus was none other than Gala's outstanding Nigerian centre-forward Victor Osimhen. Again, this team, this club, they're not treating this season as a one-off.
And that could be all that is needed. That one signing. The one player to unlock the door. Osimhen, certainly, is that player. A title winner with Napoli. The same with Galatasaray. Berta would not only be trying for one Europe's great strikers, but also someone to add that extra bit of winning mentality to bring this team closer to fulfilling it's potential.
Recently, Football Presse sat down with Paul Parker, the former England and Manchester United fullback, for an extended interview. Paul took us back to that first season with United when they collapsed in the final weeks to hand the title to Leeds United. "Ferguson was fuming," Parker recalled, "and we were hiding."
But there was no sense of pessimism. No type of despair. Instead, it was first anger. But then a calm approach to the close-season market. Yes, United had blown it. But that summer, Ferguson made just the one addition - a young Dion Dublin from Cambridge United. Eric Cantona would come months later. But for Parker, Ferguson's decision to back what he had made all the difference. He knew his players were good enough - and a poor run of results in the final weeks of the previous season wasn't going to change his mind.
Of course, that breakthrough title in 1993 was the beginning of the first of Ferguson's winning eras. And for United and Sir Alex, you can see that same potential in Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.
However, this column would question if Arteta has as much belief in what he has as we do. The focus on set-pieces. The playing the percentages and eking out results. It's as if Arteta isn't willing to fully back his players to go out and dominate a game like they were in the first-half of the season. Yes, at this stage in the campaign, everything is about results and points, rather performance and goals. But this cagey approach does appear to weigh on his players and chip away at the self-belief.
The character is there. The steel - just consider how strong the players were at the Metropolitano this week - that's there too. But you wonder if this emphasis on set-pieces and set-plays has worked against a team full of attacking flair and potential.
Former Gooner Jorginho, now with Flamengo, recently offered a hint at how Arteta's focus on set-pieces can work against the players: "... the thing is, if you focus just on this, and then you forget about the football side, then of course you're not going to have beautiful football. So I think it's all about balance."
Balance in the dressing room. Balance on the pitch. Arsenal are close. Very close. But their slide in recent months shows Arteta hasn't quite figured it out.
But no matter what happens in this final month of the Premier League season, both Arsenal and their manager won't be going away.