The questions Arsenal now face after lost 2020/2021 season

The season had so much promise to it. Coming off of two trophy earning victories against Chelsea and Liverpool in the FA Cup Final and Community Shield, a major step seemed possible as Arsenal had Mikel Arteta, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, young players and savvy veterans as well; trophies can add fuel to a burning fire, or relight the embers of a dying one.

Yet few could’ve suspected that the team would feel choked across much of this season. While many of the same players remained from last year’s shock, last minute run at the end of the season, some new faces came in the summer, as well as January for the Gunners. Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard should’ve been enough for a team full of emerging talent, as well as more famous and well known names; it never fully came together however, and this is what has left us in this current spot.

From coaching to playing, nothing ever seemed to really click this season. Maybe another off-season, more transfers, and some tinkering and rethinking could do the trick; I am not personally ready to fire Arteta, as I believe his trophies have earned him more time than was afforded to Unai Emery. In hindsight, it was regrettable that Emery was fired and not given more time to improve his English and the squad of his Arsenal side; that was a reactionary, knee-jerk decision and should not be repeated this time with Arteta.

Yet Arsenal do sit out of a top five finish on the Premier League table. They were knocked out of the Europa League by Unai Emery and Villarreal by virtue of an embarrassing 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals at the Emirates last week, and the club has no means to qualify for any European competition next year unless they luck out(?) and happen to fall into the UEFA European Conference League. The 1-0 win over Chelsea strengthens such a possibility.

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The questions Arsenal and Mikel Arteta now face after lost 2020/2021 Premier League and Europa League seasons

It will be difficult for Arsenal to get into European football in the coming years and could prove difficult to build and curate a team capable of even making it into the top six with the rise of other clubs like West Ham, Everton and maybe even Aston Villa next year.

Meanwhile, the teams above the Gunners are substantially deeper in terms of team depth and pocketbook. Manchester City and Manchester United spend all of the money and look as appealing as any club across the globe; Liverpool has a great history and has just recently been a world beater under Jurgen Klopp; Chelsea looks back on track with Thomas Tuchel despite losing to Arsenal in shock fashion in the second of two league victories for the Gunners this season.

Even with this fresh loss to Arsenal, I will be the first to suggest that it remains unlikely that Roman Abramovich, despite his reputation, will do anything other than praise the German skipper at this point of his career on Stamford Bridge.

Leicester City, meanwhile, are attempting to hold on to a top four position after the folly at the end of last season that saw them slip from Champions League to Europa League on the final day of the season. They have shown themselves a tough side who seems here to stay amongst the better of the Premier League just the same as anyone else. Yet Tottenham in juxtaposition to many of these teams, might find themselves another odd man out alongside their north London rivals.

So where does this all leave Arsenal? What should fans be hoping for and believing in regards to the possible and implausible?