Do present Arsenal struggles indicate history is about to repeat itself?

At least there is only one more month to endure! In a week of tumultuous activity off the pitch, including the furious public backlash against Super League proposals and fierce protests aimed at our American ownership, the same old Arsenal returned on Friday night as a comical own goal from Bernd Leno gifted Everton a 1-0 win in north London.

Speaking in his press conference after the game, Mikel Arteta insisted his side were “the better team” and bemoaned VAR’s contentious role in the demoralising defeat. However, while the technology certainly did nothing to help the cause, his side were frustratingly passive throughout the 90 minutes and failed to create any clear-cut chances despite their dominance in possession.

Everton‘s first triumph away to Arsenal since 1995/96 condemns us to a seventh Premier League home defeat – and ninth in all competitions – of the season and, with hopes of a strong end to the campaign now contingent on success in European competition, should we be wary about the prospect of history repeating itself?

Having picked up just nine points in the last seven league games, while simultaneously putting Slavia Prague and Olympiacos to the sword in comfortable away day outings, the patterns emerging in recent weeks are strikingly similar to those of our ill-fated 2018/19 campaign, under the stewardship of Unai Emery.

Do contrasting Arsenal fortunes in the Premier League and Europe indicate that history is repeating itself as with Unai Emery?

During the final weeks of that season, Arsenal also experienced a miserable run of domestic form as they won just one of their final five games, featuring some infamous losses such as a 3-0 hiding at Leicester and a 3-2 surrender against Crystal Palace, but secured laudable victories- against Napoli and Valencia respectively – on their way to the club’s first European final in 13 years.

Furthermore, and perhaps in a more concerning reliving of the past, our present struggles also closely resemble the dreadful results we recorded in the Autumn.

In a period spanning from early November until mid-December, Arsenal acquired a paltry two points out of a possible 21 and tasted defeat on five occasions, with some of those defeats coming against sides-including Everton – who have since completed historic league doubles over us.

Looking ahead to next week’s semi-final clash away to Villarreal, Arteta will be hoping to avoid any haunting experiences as he goes head-to-head with his north London predecessor for the first time.

Just as it was in 2006, it will be the Gunners versus the Yellow Submarine vying for a place in a European final, and let’s hope that this time our season gets the fairytale ending it so desperately needs.