For 19 seasons, Arsene Wenger kept Arsenal in the top four of England’s Premier League, an achievement firmly cast in football history. Whilst in the later years the “4th place trophy” became a little bit of a running joke amongst both Arsenal and rival fans, with context, the consistency is nothing to be scoffed at.
Fast-forward 22 years and a new manager is at the helm of the Gunners, Unai Emery, but it’s obvious that he has his hands full. Facing a plethora of issues, he’s challenged to steer Arsenal back in the direction of League and European competitiveness. His artillery: a squad that has been guided by the same system so rigidly for more than two decades, who are going to take a serious amount of time to adapt to- and adopt- the Spaniard’s new approach.
Reactions to Emery’s first season in charge have been mixed, but many fans agree that his first season should be taken with a pinch of salt and a repeat of 6th place would not necessarily be a failure, but the first stage in the process of change.
Imagine though that Emery’s squad excels in response to his modern coaching style, undoubtedly surprising a lot of people. Imagine that they manage to string a strong vein of form together, culminating in Arsenal making the top 4 for the first time in 3 seasons. Yes, a lot of hypothetical theory I know, but it is not something beyond the capabilities and quality this team possess.
A return to the top 4 in my eyes would represent a greater achievement than that of achieving top 4 for the first 7 seasons after moving to The Emirates Stadium during the years of financial strictness. These years from 2006 to 2013 where Arsenal signed their, at the time, record-signing Mesut Ozil, were certainly frustrating for many Arsenal fans who had seen not just an invincible season, but Arsenal go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country for nearly a decade prior.
In the years that followed, their main rivals, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, spent large amounts on marquee signings and won many trophies. Soon after, Manchester City received massive financial backing from the Middle East, which saw them go on to challenge and eventually win their first Premier League title.
Whilst all this spending was going on, Arsenal continued to cherry pick players for reasonable fees and occasionally see high profile players leave in search of greater success, but the club continued to achieve a top 4 spot, regularly pipping North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to the post.
So why then would one single season finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League give Unai Emery a greater accolade than 7 seasons of the same result for Arsene Wenger?
The answer is rather simple when you consider both scenarios. During the 7 seasons from 2006 to 2013 where Arsenal rarely saw much money spent, the likes of Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and company leaving for pastures new and no trophies won, Arsenal were playing in a league far less competitive than that of today.
For the first 3 seasons after the stadium move, the top 4 consisted of the same 4 teams (Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) and the gap from 4th to 5th was never smaller than 8 points. The gap between Arsenal and 5th place over the subsequent 3 seasons never shrunk smaller than 6 points and by this time Liverpool had fallen far behind the competitive pace and had been replaced the free-spending Manchester City. Arsenal never saw true competition for their “top 4” crown until 2011 when Spurs began biting at their heels.
Looking at the landscape of English football now, you have an incredibly more challenging league overall. Teams in the lower half can be seen spending near £100 million on players, not so long-ago lowly Leicester City rose up to win the title and you could argue that at least 7 teams are all more than capable of pushing to qualify for Champions League football. In fact, these were all factors which saw Arsenal struggle to pick up points when not playing at home, unable to win a single “big away game” and eventually finish in their worst league position since 1995 – all failings which ultimately revealed to manager Arsene Wenger that it was time for him to move on.
Unai Emery, were he to achieve the feat of lifting Arsenal onto their very familiar pedestal, would have done so in a far superior league to that of the 2006-2013 era, and whilst competing in one of the most draining club competitions in the Europa League, on a restricted summer budget and in his first season as Arsenal manager. For me, it would unquestionably be one of the finest achievements not just as Arsenal Head Coach, but as a top-tier football coach, period.
This article was first published on the Travelling Peach.
