Arsenal: There’s no downward spiral, seek attention elsewhere

Arsenal is yet again the subject of serious scrutiny and according to some, they are in a “downward spiral.” Which is just so attention grabby.

Arsenal hasn’t had the best restart. After getting ousted against Manchester City, they proceeded to get stunned by Brighton. With zero points in two matches, the talking heads are weighing in and—yep, you guessed it—the club is in a tailspin, all engines have burned out, and there is no way back.

The headlines aren’t far from that, now saying that Arteta has to stop the “downward spiral” that the club is in. Because, I guess, they’re in a downward spiral.

That’s the thing though. They aren’t. In isolation, these two matches haven’t looked good. Granted, David Luiz undid any hopes against Manchester City and Brighton showed a remarkable lack of fight even though we did dominate the match.

And yet, if you look at the Premier League table since Arteta took over, we are still fifth in the league. Tottenham sits 15th, United sit behind us in sixth, Leicester is in 13th.

Are any of them in a downward spiral? Nope. Because that isn’t part of the media narrative that will always paint Arsenal as a dumpster fire.

Spoiler alert—Arsenal doesn’t need a fake narrative to look like a dumpster fire. They do just fine on their own, thank you very much. When we fail, we will fail spectacularly. We don’t need anyone else’s help to do so.

But what’s happening right now? This isn’t a downward spiral. This is a team that got checked into the boards (sorry, hockey terminology) and needs to come back out and steady themselves. That’s it. It’s the first real test that Arteta has had to face. Two disappointments in a row, each of a distinctly different type. One being completely outmatched and helped on by individual mistakes, one lacking fight and finishing acumen.

Calling this a downward spiral is just a blatant heaping of misinformation designed to accomplish what it always is—getting attention from a fanbase that, let’s be honest, tends to over-dramatize the situation at the club. We’re getting better, people, don’t let some flimsy media narrative succeed in convincing you otherwise. Instead, trust me. I’m American.

Since Arteta took over, with no personnel changes of his own, we are fifth in the league. I get that this isn’t our objective finish, and that we aren’t actually in fifth, but you can only make the most of what’s in front of you.