The league table in 2020:




It reflects what some have already pointed out, in that the Brighton result was a blip. The two defeats on top of one another made the situation appear worse than what it was. We really shouldn't have lost to Brighton, but in both that and the Citeh game, we lost players to injury and were victims of self-harm and dreadful officiating.

The fact that Arteta has done all this with a ramshackle squad and so many injuries is really impressive. You hear so much about all-conquering perennial 5/6th placers Manchester United, Lamps' wonderful "youngsters" and Brentan's Leicester, but Arteta is outperforming them all.

And before the inevitable nuance-less miserablist responses, no-one thinks we're a brilliantly run club and that our football is attractive at the moment, but it can't be denied that Arteta is doing some really good work so far.