THE FAN VIEW

Arseblog’s Tim Stillman calls what he sees in Arteta’s Arsenal ( so far)

I WAS FULLY BEHIND GIVING THE JOB TO A ROOKIE MANAGER

We’ve never really gone for the obvious manager choice: Chapman, Mee, Graham, Wenger. We’ve always had left- field appointments – that’s where Arsenal fit. Arteta really wanted this job and he was attainable. He shouldn’t be, by rights, but he feels like an Arsenal man.

ARTETA COULDN’T HAVE COMPLAINED IF HE HAD BEEN SACKED

I don’t think we were always on this path. Arteta made mistakes along the way – Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang’s renewed contract, Willian joining, and perhaps he could have managed Nicolas Pepe better – but there was no one on the market we could get who could obviously do any better. The phrase I always use is that he couldn’t have complained if he had been sacked. That second half of the 2020- 21 season, when Martin Odegaard came in and Emith Smith Rowe started playing, gave us a better idea of the football that Arteta was trying to play.

THE SUMMER OF 2021 CONVINCED ME THAT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A PLAN

I was very interested in our so- called ‘ underwhelming’ signings. Some Arsenal fans were genuinely upset about Aaron Ramsdale, quoting his long- ball statistics – the same with Ben White – and I was thinking, ‘ Surely that’s the point, though?’ It couldn’t just have been an accident. I thought, ‘ All right, he’s seen something in these players and I want to see what it is’. Our win against Burnley in September last year was the one: we played very differently, with Thomas Partey set up as the deepest midfielder. I was convinced quite quickly after that.

ARSENAL ARE IN A TITLE RACE

Arsenal are in a no- lose situation. It’s easy to compartmentalise if we lose to Manchester City: it’s not like last season, competing against Spurs. Every six or seven years, though, a window opens for a title win when everyone is in transition. There is another part of me that thinks if we don’t do it this season, we won’t have another opportunity for a long time…