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Back in November, this column asked the question: How real was the Arsenal rise? Our answer at the time was skeptical, not entirely discounting the idea that Mikel Arteta’s side might be the fourth-best team in England, but noting some very real questions that they had not answered while others had.
This was not a lone voice. As former captain Cesc Fabregas said at the time: “I don’t think people demand top four at the moment. I think the fans are realistic.” Four months ago, that seemed a realistic assessment. A top-four finish was not impossible and would be the most welcome of surprises. Now, Arsenal supporters expect it. If the end of the season does not end in the fashion that they hope for, there will still be much cause for encouragement over this campaign — one which most viewed as a rebuilding season after two straight eighth placed finishes — but this will feel like an opportunity lost for some.
Not all, it should be noted, and Ian Wright would counsel supporters to remember what was expected of their club at the start of the season. “The culture change that Mikel Arteta has tried to make happen at the club is happening now,” he said on CBS Sports’ Que Golazo podcast. “All we need now is consistency from the guys. I thought sixth place would have been perfect for us.
“If we finished fourth, we’d have overachieved but then that might help us get more money from the owner to buy even more players, more experienced players, so we can stay amongst [the best teams]. You don’t want to get around the top four and next season you’re back in and around seventh and eighth. You want to stay there. That’s what Mikel wants to do.
“At the start of the season, no one would have said we were in for top four, especially as the season before we finished eighth consecutively. How are we going to go from eighth to fourth? If we go from eighth to sixth and back into Europe, that is not too…
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Source : cbssports
