Arsenal: So wait, have we actually gotten any better?

Arsenal seemed to have gotten a lot better as the year has gone along, but have we really? Have we? Because it doesn’t look or sound like it.

Arsenal lost their first two matches of the season to Manchester City and Chelsea and people withheld their judgment. Those were two tough matches, and they were the first in a new era. We needed to be patient.

But had you told us after that Chelsea match that, with the top four on the line, we would lose three crucial matches in a row to Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton and Leicester City, I’d have thought twice about staying patient. Because clearly nothing has gotten better, right? How do you go on the biggest losing streak of your season when you have your fate in your own hands.

You’re Arsenal, that’s how. You’re mentally weak, spineless, and unable to figure out why you’re on the pitch in the first place.

And Unai Emery said something after the match that, while I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it, and I’m going to be taking this out of context, still resonates with the season and the state we are currently in.

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His words: “At the beginning of the season we knew it was going to be difficult and today it is the same.”

Again, he didn’t mean anything by it, I’m just taking this statement as a symbol of where we currently are – that nothing has changed between now and the beginning of the season. We are still mentally shambolic, we still don’t know how to bear down and grind out tough matches, even though there were hints along the way that we were learning. And we still can’t figure out how to play outside of the comforts of a home match.

Which, by the way, what will the reception be like against Valencia? Brighton?

It’s possible that the team has improved. That these last couple results are a product of exhaustion and overuse and whatever the hell else you want to say. But at this point, that is the out of context speculation, and assuming that nothing has changed is just following the evidence. As much as I hate to say it, that’s how it is right now.

There’s just no hiding from it. This club is not in a good place and the road to convincing us fans is much longer now than it was two months ago. Much longer.