Arsenal: “Fab Four” headed into same bin as “British Core”

The Arsenal hype train does not have a very high success rate. Less so now that the “Fab Four” is a complete and utter failure just like the last.

Anytime the Arsenal hype train pulls out of the station, a wave of wary optimism spreads across the world. There’s a reason for that.

Rewind to 2012. Under Arsene Wenger, the “British Core” was meant to herald in a new dynasty at the club. With Ramsey, Wilshere, Gibbs, Jenkinson and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal was primed to take the Premier League behind homegrown British talent that was supposed to hang around for decades.

With Ramsey set to leave this summer, that plan is completely shot. The British Core brought no Premier League titles and, apart from Ramsey, had no big contributions towards any other domestic successes either.

In January of 2018, a new dynasty was build, this one the “Fab Four.” With Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, there was was no defense on earth (or elsewhere) that could withstand the combined power of this attack.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Because, on paper, how could you do any better? Two fantastic creators and two fantastic finishers. Easy as you like.

That’s not working out either. In fact, the Fab Four is looking at perhaps even less success than the British Core. Ozil is on the outs with Unai Emery, who doesn’t ever want to included the highest-earning Gooner ever, not to mention the phantom injuries that keep claiming him in the mean time.

Mkhitaryan has had hardly a handful of useful matches, and while no one is doubting his abilities, there are doubts concerning if he can translate them to success at the Emirates.

That leaves the two strikers, Laca and Auba. Sure, there is a lot of hope invested in these two prolific strikers. But Aubameyang is set to turn 30 this summer, at which point he will have two years left on his deal to take him to 32 years of age, assuming he isn’t sold before then.

Being honest, do we actually think we will have much domestic success next year? It’s hard to say, as we haven’t gotten there yet and we don’t know what the summer holds, but needless to say, the Fab Four has already essentially disbanded into a dynamic duo without a cool name to go along with.

Maybe in the future we stop trying with the Avenger-like power cliques. It never seems to work out too well, does it?