Frankly, the season started so badly that the chances of Mikel Arteta seeing it out until May looked slim. Successive defeats, and horrendous displays, against Brentford, Chelsea, and Manchester City, during which Arsenal shipped in nine goals without reply, felt like a death-knell for the Spaniard, but he clung on, and now in mid-January, things look a whole lot better for the North London club.
The season before last, Arteta clung on to his post by picking up an FA Cup triumph against Chelsea, which papered over the cracks of a disastrous eighth-placed finish. Last season another poor league campaign meant that the current campaign wouldn’t feature any European action at all, which, to be honest, is preferable to having to compete in the European Conference (a competition that somehow manages to make the Europa League look opulent).
So it’s in this atmosphere of ongoing contempt and apathy from a fanbase that has suffered for years that those opening three losses occurred. They were very much almost the straw that broke the camel’s back. Then something positive happened. Arteta opted to go all-in with his new signings and truly trust to youth.
A run of eight Premier League games without defeat followed a collection of solid performances that might have led fans to make a beeline for the latest Bet365 betting and streaming offers and cement a genuine challenge for a top-four finish.
New Blood
Aaron Ramsdale has been in inspired form, and the confidence of having a keeper who is in great form helped to solidify the pairing of Ben White and Gabriel as the best first-choice centre-back pairing the club has had for years. New addition Takehiro Tomiyasu has adapted to life in the Premier League in stunning fashion, while Kieran Tierney has been ably backed by Nuno Tavares during the Scot’s injury layoff.
Thomas Partey, when fully fit, has shown his class, and ideally, Arteta would have a better option than Xhaka as a regular partner for the Ghanaian. Albert Sambi Lokonga might be that player, but it’s too early to say with any certainty.
Trusting in Youth
Youngsters Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Emile Smith Rowe have been immense, now seen as regular members of the first-team squad and not just bit-part players, with the latter proving to be something of a super-sub of late.
Even having Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hitting his own self-destruct button hasn’t really phased the overall set-up. Mikel Arteta has manfully dealt with the former captain’s disciplinary issues, and the Gabon international has more than likely played his last game for the club.
Though Arsenal were dumped out of the FA Cup by Nottingham Forest, they are still well placed to get to the EFL League Cup final, after a gutsy 0-0 draw with Liverpool, where the Gunners had to battle for over an hour without Granit Xhaka, who of course did what he does best and got himself punished for a clumsy challenge.
Even the most hardened cynic, and let’s be honest, there’s a lot for Arsenal fans to be angry about, would have to concede that the club is in a far healthier state right now than they’ve been since Arsene Wenger left the club.
Moving in the Right Direction
There is a nucleus of a solid squad available to Arteta, and they aren’t a team that is so easily pushed aside by the bigger clubs, as evidenced by their unfortunate loss to Man City on New Year’s Day.
There will be a number of teams battling for the fourth spot come May and Arsenal are one of those who have a great chance to book a Champions League berth. Quite a lot depends on how the opposition fares, but it’s essentially a fight between Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham, and Man United.
Spurs are buoyed by the arrival of Antonio Conte, and there is a sense that Arsenal’s North London rivals might be the biggest threat to Arteta’s chances. The Hammers are punching above their weight, and Man United are in disarray, even after the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim boss.
It may well come down to the clashes between these four teams, and Arsenal has to travel to both their London rivals and if they can avoid losses in those games, then they further improve their chances of a first top-four finish in six seasons.
New Expectations
Clearly, there was a time, not all that many years ago, that battling for a top-four finish would be considered something of a failure, but in many ways, Arsenal fans have had to adjust their expectations.
Much as Manchester United have failed to hit the heights following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, Arsenal have had to adjust to life after Arsene Wenger. Add to this the fact that even in the Frenchman’s final years in charge, the club were in something of a slow freefall, and you can see just how the slow drip drip of mediocrity has led the club to where they now reside.
The fall from grace has been quite spectacular when you examine where the club is now versus what they achieved previously. Those back-to-back 8th place finishes were the club’s worst since 1995, and therefore the anger and despair felt by the club’s supporters is wholly justified, but the club is where they are now, and measuring against past successes isn’t going to help anyone.
Arteta started his reign in poor fashion, and had he not been a former player, then maybe he would have gone the way of Unai Emery, but that loyalty bought him some time, and right now, things look to be paying off and come May if Arsenal have secured a return to the top table of European football then that may well represent the true beginning of a new era of success.
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