DON'T PANIC

 

Three games played, zero wins, nine goals against, zero goals scored. That was the perilous situation at the start of the current campaign and it was open season on taking the piss out of the Arsenal, memes were flying and pundits were rubbing their hands together with barely concealed glee.

The Arsenal now sit fifth in the table on 54 points, fourth place separated by goal difference. The Arsenal have also played one less game than Sp*rs & Man Utd and two less than West Ham and after a pretty successful 2022 (only losing to the two teams that are head and shoulders above everyone else) we crashed and burned at Selhurst Park. Let's get it right; Crystal Palace were much better and thoroughly deserved the win and this victory by the Eagles has unleashed the vultures of opinion.

Optimism turns to doom and gloom over the space of ninety minutes, particularly in this social media age, and I have heard cries of "Fourth place is gone", "Get rid of Arteta", " Player (A) is shite!", "Player (B) should be shot"...

I think my opinion from earlier in the season still stands. I am happy with Arteta and how he has brought about a bit of a culture change and invested in youth to produce a team that are likeable and exciting, but I do feel that Michael has a ceiling and his stewardship will take us only so far. Having said that, we still have a way to travel to become once again a significant player in this league (and Europe) and quite possibly Arteta can get the club back in the Champions League and use that as another significant step in the right direction. At this point we may see a change

But for now fortunately there is an opportunity to consign last night's result to the archive and gain three points against Brighton at The Emirates; a ground where we generally do well. We now have injury problems and are being written off (again) and you know what? I love it. I much prefer the Arsenal to be underdogs. I much prefer it when we are unpopular and denagrated, that's when The Arsenal step up.