MIK'S MISSED A SITTER

This was arip but season to finally seize title Guns are going backwards

- JOHN CROSS

MIKEL ARTETA celebrates five years in charge of Arsenal, yet the jury remains out on his reign.

Arsenal were drifting after Unai Emery’s mixed fortunes at the Emirates and Arteta has won an FA Cup and twice mounted a serious Premier League title challenge.

But the last time they lifted the trophy was in 2004 with the Invincibles, making this the longest Arsenal have gone without winning the league post-war.

They won it in the 1950s, the 1971 Double, they enjoyed 1989 and ’91 successes under George Graham and then Arsene Wenger’s three titles in his reign.

Let’s not try to dress this up as some kind of rebuilding job. Arteta has turned the club around. But Arsenal expect to be winning major trophies.

There have been highs and lows. For example, Arteta was fortunate there were no crowds in stadiums because of the pandemic when Burnley won at the Emirates in December 2020.