We had some absolutely rotten luck last season though. Yeah finishing 8th is horrendous but you missed the context. We don’t get shafted by refs against Wolves and Xhaka doesn’t make a brain dead pass against Burnley and we’re 1 point behind Champions League winners Chelsea. The margins between 8th and 3rd were razor thin. We also had injuries to key players like Tierney, Xhaka, Auba (I know that all managers have to deal with key injuries but those were all pretty big injuries and came at really unfortunate times in the season).

Yeah Arteta is a rookie manager and he has made some questionable decisions and played some awful games but there are also signs that he’s getting to grips with it. There will undoubtedly be questions if he doesn’t deliver at least Europa at the minimum this season. But our fortunes have turned around since Christmas and Emery left. Since Emery left we’ve beaten every member of the traditional “big 6” which was not something we’d done in years and is actually quite an achievement. He’s shored up the defence which is what Arsenal fans attached Wenger and Emery for failing to do. If he’s given some good, creative signings then I don’t see a reason that Arteta will not markedly improve next season…