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Good evening. Like hope and the humble mullet, progress comes in many forms. On this day three years ago, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The game is remembered for Raul Jimenez suffering a fractured skull, a shocking incident that almost killed him. It was also Arsenal’s fifth defeat in 10 Premier League games, a run they soon extended to eight in 14. At Christmas they were 15th, and many people expected Arteta’s stocking to contain a P45.
Three years on, Arteta’s Arsenal are again being criticised – but this time it’s polite, qualified criticism about a team who are top of both the Premier League and their Champions League group. You don’t need a degree in xG to know that Arsenal haven’t been as dynamic or exhilarating as they were in the first half of last season, yet that may well be a positive. If they ally their attacking play of 2022-23 with the £105m worth of solidity they added in the summer, and there’s no logical or tactical reason why they can’t, their 20-year wait for one of the two big prizes may come to an end.