Agree with most of that. Re ESR I'm not sure that we can assess his current form because we have not seen him play for any length of time. Its seems odd that our second highest scorer for 2021/22 - in front of Odegard and Martinelli that season - has suddenly become a player without the potential to improve like they, and Saka have. He was also a good link player - that should have been able to work in Arteta's preferred system - unlike, say Nketiah. I think your 'poor man's JW' comment is harsh simply because he hasn't been given a chance this season. I can remember that he was almost solely responsible for the uptick in our lamentable form before December 2021.
Generally speaking I think some fans (I'm not directing this at you BTW!) seem to think that our players are average simply because they are not at the level of Citeh's best. Citeh are a freak show of a team who can hoover up the best talent in the world. Most of our players would not get into that team, but neither would those from the other teams in the league. Our players have been good enough to run Citeh close for the title. That is not average.