Arsenal vs Manchester City: 5 things learned in horror show

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 15: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal kicks a water bottle as he is subbed as Interim Manager of Arsenal, Freddie Ljungberg looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on December 15, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 15: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal kicks a water bottle as he is subbed as Interim Manager of Arsenal, Freddie Ljungberg looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on December 15, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

3. Don’t sleep on our future

Sure, a lot of bad things happened, and that’s a real problem. But when you take out the fact that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang practically didn’t play, and that Mesut Ozil was worthless, and that Sokratis shouldn’t have been out there and… forgive me, but I don’t want to keep going. You get the idea.

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Take all that out and you will see that Gabriel Martinelli played a very positive match. He had a sense of urgency that I didn’t see from anyone else.

Until Emile Smith Rowe came on. At which point we saw it from him too. Same from Bukayo Saka, though he was stifled by being forced to play leftback.

When the match was over (in like, the 40th minute), these three were perhaps the only players that could be bothered to push play forward and not give up. Sure, it was futile, but it gave us another window into what the future will look like, and it’s positive.

Sure, we suck now. Like, really suck. But this won’t last forever, and you’ll do well to remember that.

No. 2 is next.