What Arsenal definitely can’t thank Pep Guardiola for

“We’ve got Super Mik Arteta. He knows exactly what we need. Kieran at the back, Gabi in attack, Arsenal are going to win the Champions League.”

That’s how the song goes. And very flattering of Mikel Arteta it is too. He’s someone who for a long time hadn’t quite won over supporters on an emotional level, but who now has the backing of the overwhelming majority.

Overseeing the project at hand, the case for him to be handed a new deal grows stronger by the week: recent recruitment has been excellent, there is a new culture, the football is exciting, and the future is bright.

It’s taken a while to get here – over two years and three months – with some apathetic lows along the way, but now there could be the biggest return on the club’s investment in him with Champions League football in the Gunners’ sights.

Arsenal can thank Pep Guardiola for nurturing Mikel Arteta into the manager he is – but they can’t thank him for something this season

Arteta is clearly a very talented coach. Tactically he’s modern and astute, behind the scenes he’s working on his man-management, and there is clarity of his philosophy. He knows exactly what he wants and how to get it.

We can thank Pep Guardiola for cultivating a lot of that.

His protege of sorts, some of the better traits of Arteta’s management were taught under his stewardship. One of the greatest managers who ever lived is someone you want your career to be blossoming under. Just look at Xavi now, utilising the same system as Pep, and therefore Arteta, with a clearly defined and exciting style of play in mind.

Arteta will go on to be a top coach, if he isn’t already. Whether his success comes at Arsenal are not, he will taste it. So, for helping to craft the man who has got this fanbase more united and invested than ever before, a small thank you may be in order.

But you know what Pep isn’t getting any thanks for? Being a failure. An unmitigated failure. It is because of him that there are ten high-stakes matches remaining in the Premier League.

Seriously, three defeats all season long and two of them had to be against Tottenham?

If he didn’t kick his Man City team into gear and have a normal bogey team like Southampton or Brighton then Arsenal could already be planning their Champions League shopping list.

No, instead this genius contrived to lose home and away to Spurs. Of course he did. He’ll do it again next season as well, just like he does every year.

Come May 22 hopefully it will count for nothing. But no, the best team arguably in Europe, who wipe the floor with absolutely everyone, had to lose to Tottenham…twice.

Thanks, Pep.