When Mikel Arteta took over Arsenal Football Club, I genuinely thought it was the lowest point that I’d consciously witnessed the team in my 28 years on this Earth. I know that for many older and wiser than me there have been lower points at the club, many in fact, but in this modern era languishing in the bottom half of the table when Unai Emery’s successor was eventually appointed it was a place where envisaging a way back to the top four, let alone the league’s summit, in just over three years was difficult to imagine..
Yet, in the third year since the appointment of the Spaniard, that is exactly where the club resides. Arsenal winning the league remains some way off, though, even with the five-point buffer at Christmas.
Manchester City are favourites and an injury to Gabriel Jesus threatens to curtail hopes of a season-long title race. Although, taking a step back from the potential permutations of the season and looking at the club on December 20, 2019 compared to today: Arteta’s philosophy, values and style are stamped all over it.
