3 big questions surrounding Mikel Arteta and Arsenal

3. Do Arsenal have the ‘right stuff’ to challenge Manchester City?

Unfortunately, our first six weeks indicate the answer is no.

Prospective champions almost always step up on matchday and, on uncharacteristic bad days, are able to show their mettle to come away with all three points. In some ways, it is a fighting spirit we have actually seen from Arsenal because they collected 14 points in six matches without being at their best and will only improve as the season progresses.

But the team has still toiled in recent outings and, against both Tottenham and Fulham, dropped points when they had shown enough to claim victory, only to be undone by inexplicable individual errors.

While Arteta accepts that errors like Jorginho’s recent dawdling are “part of football”, the frequency with which they manifest at the Emirates is quite alarming and will forever hold us back if not addressed.

Manchester City never seem to make mistakes and, with margins that small, Arsenal have lots to do if they are to become champions again.