In the space of just five years, Arsenal have gone from a club outside of the Premier League’s top four to a title challenger and Champions League knockout stage competitor.
When Mikel Arteta took the Gunners reins in December 2019, they were a lowly tenth in the Premier League table.
It had been 15 years since Arsenal won their last Premier League title, and besides a few FA Cup triumphs, there wasn’t much to shout about at N5.
Five years on, and the Gunners are now still very much in the frame for the title, having challenged for the top prize just last season.
In addition, Arsenal are now in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and their tie with Bayern Munich remains in the balance.
It has been a long and arduous road back to the top for the Gunners, with Mikel Arteta and Edu having done major surgery on the club. And it’s not like they were left to it either.
There wasn’t much to show for it initially, and for a while, ‘trust the process’ became a phrase of derision and mockery from gloating rivals and increasingly exasperated fans.
However, last year, things just clicked, and Arsenal became bona fide title challengers once again. This is still the case, with the Gunners currently top of the table.
And Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas is buzzing with how things are at the Emirates Stadium and with what Edu and the hierarchy has done.
What has Cesc Fabregas said about Arsenal chief Edu?
Cesc Fabregas, speaking to the PA news agency, expressed his delight at how Edu and the Arsenal hierarchy continued to back Arteta in spite of all the criticism.
“It is all about Edu and the owners giving him the time and the right tools to prove himself,” the Como boss told PA, as transcribed by BBC Sport.
“When this happens, the structure, the vision and the trust comes together and things happen. That is why I am happy.
“I always use them as an example, the first two years of Mikel, in any other club or someone else managing the situation could have just got rid of Mikel and said ‘we are moving to another direction’.
“But they had a clear plan, a clear process, they had the right steps, they invested in young quality players and now you get all the results of these ups and downs of the first two or three years.
“They are there, they have done really well and they are a proper example of how football should be done.”
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You can totally understand why there may have been exasperation from some sections of the fanbase.
For instance, at the end of the 2021/22 season, Arsenal failed to reach the Champions League after Arteta had offloaded Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
At the time, it seemed like a major own goal for Arsenal, who may well have sneaked into the top four had they kept him.
There were some instances where Arteta’s ruthlessness seemed a bit over the top, but now we can see exactly what he was doing.
Arsenal’s dressing room is now a tightly-knit unit full of high-quality players, not only in talent but also the right attitude.
Better still, the Gunners have plenty of players in their early to mid-twenties who have penned long-term contracts and look set to be the cornerstone of the XI for years to come.
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