Where are Arsenal going under Mikel Arteta?

That question has been posed for the best part of 18 months. Unfortunately, the answers given back then are the same as the ones given now, we still don’t know where Arsenal are going under Mikel Arteta.

Having seemingly bought the right players for his system, with backing from the board, it has all been set up for Arteta to show that he is the right man to lead this club back up the Premier League table. Instead of climbing, Arsenal is treading water.

The performance against Tottenham in the North London Derby looked for all intents and purposes to be the turning point in Arteta’s reign as Gunners boss. That result is now looking like a flash in the pan. An anomaly against a poor side instead of an indication of routine.

Club legend Thierry Henry stated in the lead-up to Arsenal’s game with Crystal Palace that the alarm bells were ringing from the club’s game against Brighton, and that perhaps what everyone had seen from Arsenal in the three prior outings was something of a false dawn.

Where are Arsenal going under Mikel Arteta? Nearly two years on and the same issues remain despite extensive investment with his job hanging by a thread

"“I don’t know if things are going in the right direction,” Henry said. “I was waiting to see the Brighton game, to see if we could have the ball and keep the ball, away from home, retaining possession, against a dangerous Brighton side. “But I didn’t see that.”"

What they served up against Palace was nearly a resemblance of Unai Emery’s final weeks in his ill-fated attempt to halt his own slippery slide: grabbing an early lead and sitting on it, inviting the waves of pressure. A belief that one goal is all the team could realistically aim for. The red flags were raised.

The one thing that stood out against Crystal Palace was not on the pitch, but rather off it. Looking at the two managers in Arteta and Patrick Vieira, what both have been able to do in their time at their respective clubs is stark in comparison.

The Spaniard has been in charge of the club for nearly two years and there seems to be no noticeable improvements from when he first took over. The same shortcomings and fragilities remain; the lack of a plan to achieve that crucial element of football, scoring goals, was evident for all to see.

Then in the other dugout, a polar opposite has happened. Vieira has squeezed more out of his Palace squad in his short stint as boss than Arteta has in nearly two years. Their style has changed, drastically, and the players understand it. Also, Vieira hasn’t spent £150m ($207m) in the most recent window.

Given the length of time Arteta has been in the job, more often than not, fans, media personalities, and everyone in between should know what Arteta is about and what he brings to the table as manager. However, still, after all this time, the jury is out. That in itself tells a harrowing story.

Surely if the board and fans thought Arteta was the man to lead the club back into Europe and its next Premier League challenge, they would know it by now. Palace was organized, superior in possession, and came out with a plan and executed it on Arsenal’s home deck. They didn’t have to be exceptional, or even excellent, to control the game.

For large spells Palace looked like the home side, not Arsenal. Under Arteta, the side have won just eight of their last 23 games at home. Is that how far this club has fallen that teams that are viewed as inferior to Arsenal can easily turn up and boss games as they did? It is perhaps time to put Arsenal in a different bracket when talking about the ‘good’ sides in the English top-flight?

Where do Arsenal go under Arteta from here? And when is enough enough?

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