Would Arsenal have been better off this season without Arteta?

It’s a question with no right or wrong answer. Well, those who lean heavily on one side of the fence will fight their corner in the debate: would Arsenal have been better off this season without Mikel Arteta?

Following defeat against Southampton and ahead of facing Chelsea on Wednesday, the current trajectory of this team has the Gunners set to finish on roughly the same number of points as they had in last season’s eighth place finish.

Arsenal need seven more points to match last season’s total, are a full ten shy of the number of goals scored, and can only concede twice in the next seven Premier League games if they don’t want to overtake how many they shipped in 2020/21.

From that perspective, there isn’t a great deal of progress being made. Especially when you factor in the acquisition of six players for a total of around £150m. No team in Europe spent more money that summer.

Would Arsenal have been better off in the 2021/22 Premier League season without Mikel Arteta? If there was another manager in charge, would it be different?

Of course, these weren’t ready-made elite additions. Sure, some were signed with the intention of starting for the club, but few if any envisaged them improving the side immediately. Either way, with that investment, should a similarly looking return in the table be accepted?

It may be that a smidgen over 61 points will suffice for top four, in which case it won’t be Arteta receiving much praise, it will be more of a reflection on how poor the chasing pack are. But internally, while targets will have been met, was there genuine improvement overall?

And this is the big question doing the rounds. If there were ten other (tier 2/3) managers who played this season out in charge of Arsenal and had their own summer window, how different might the table look? Obviously without any serious data to back this up, you might say that the majority of the other bosses would probably be in a similar position, with some doing worse and maybe one or two exceeding the current standings.

Again, no data, just hypothetical.

That isn’t impressive. That’s…average. Heck, who knows, it may have been the case that if ten other managers of a similar coaching and management level came in to try and better this season that they would all fail miserably. Perhaps the job Arteta is doing is miraculous and we’re none the wiser.

It can leave a supporter of the club torn. On the one hand, this probably is an average return, in terms of last year at least. Three consecutive defeats against sides undoubtedly weaker than Arsenal when top four is there to be snatched at is demoralising. It’s an average return for a season heading towards repetition.

But then what about the run either end of the turn of the year? What about the quality of football on show? What about the connection with the players and the fans? What about the visual improvements across the season? What about the vision for the team with a sustainable recruitment model? What about the intangibles?

With the signings he’s made and the decisions he’s taken, what Arteta has done is future-proof the side where many others might not have. It’s impossible to look at this team – last three games aside – and not want to see more. Where can this group go? Where can this manager go?

So, yes, while we can hypothesise about whether or not someone else could have done near enough the same job as Arteta is doing, the fact is that he’s the man at the helm now and, for the first time in years, he had fans believing. Just as some of that belief has now waned.

Judgements are being understandably made amid a mini-crisis, but with seven matches left to play and so much left to play for, perhaps the serious questions are best saved until the Gunners complete the season on May 22nd.

At this stage when so many are either firmly in one camp or the other, it’s fine to see both sides of the coin. But for now, the coin is still flipping up in the air. Let’s at least wait until it comes crashing down to earth.