The pressure has cooled on Mikel Arteta since Christmas after he guided the team to turn around their dreadful form, but where does our season sit in comparison to last year?
When Unai Emery was sacked, he had steered his side to 18 points from their opening 13 Premier League fixtures (1.385 pointer per game) in his second season in charge, and 10 points from their opening five group games in the Europa League. Unai’s side had won the first three which had put them in a strong position to top the group.
Fast forward 14.5 months and we have 28 points from our opening 23 matches of Arteta’s second term (1.35 points per match), and despite financial backing, the team appears to be in a worse position than we were last year.
We have no FA cup to potentially save our graces, and while Emery has a great record in the Europa League, our current manager has just one knockout tie in Europe against Olympiacos to take notes from, one which we lost thanks to our team surrendering the lead we took away from Greece by losing at the Emirates.
While Emery was sacked during a season with a worst points/match ratio than our current boss, Arteta appears to have the backing of his players and the fans, but can we really argue that he is any better than Emery was?
What happens if Arteta doesn’t seal European football for Arsenal next season?