Arsenal: ‘Flying’ form changes absolutely nothing

James Olley of the London Evening Standard has stated that Arsenal are now ‘flying after their spell of turbulence’. While that may be true, it changes absolutely nothing.

Between January 7th and March 4th, Arsenal played 13 games in all competitions. Astonishingly, they lost eight of them. It might be the most turbulent, tumultuous and testing period of Arsene Wenger’s near-22 year tenure, and it led to some challenging questions about the club’s direction and the future of the greatest manager to ever grace it.

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Nevertheless, since that time, through a rare resilience and steel, Arsenal battled their way back into relative form. They have now won five games on the bounce, three of which have come in the Europa League, are suddenly chasing down Chelsea in fifth position in the Premier League, and are on the doorstep of the semi-finals of the most important competition of the season.

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It has been a good response from what was an extremely troubling time. That is certainly the point of this piece by James Olley in the London Evening Standard, titled ‘Arsenal are now flying after their spell of turbulence’. It is a sentiment that Wenger himself agrees with, as these comments from the artichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QBfVslTdX4le portray:

"“We have responded well. People forget that we lost three games in a week [twice against Manchester City and then Brighton] because the first game we lost was a final and it takes time to recover from that. The mentality is good in the side and that’s why we recovered.”"

While ‘flying’ may be a little strong — the Gunners were not especially convincing in their wins over Stoke City and Southampton, even though they were able to pocket the three points –, I can accept that this is a team playing with far more confidence and assurance than just a matter of weeks prior.

Nevertheless, it changes absolutely nothing. You see, this is not unusual for Arsenal. Last season, they won seven of their last eight league games once Wenger shifted to a 3-4-3 formation after a run of just two wins in eight games that included humiliating losses to West Brom and Crystal Palace.

The previous year they went unbeaten in their last 10 games to sneak in ahead of Spurs to finish second. In 2014/15, they lost just one of their final 14 games, winning 10 of them. The year before they won their final five games to slip their way back into the top four. Go back another season, and they were unbeaten in their last 10 games, winning eight of them. Strong finishes to the season are normal. And yet, the same old problems still exist as they did five years ago.

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Even with these flying finishes, nothing changes the next year. The same cycle of hope and disappointment starts all over again. I have little reason that this latest resurgence is any different.