Three matches in, and it’s hard to feel like we’re shifting through the gears. Three sputtering results have yielded seven points from nine available, but it’s hard to draw confidence from that, what with Man City taking nine from nine and three others taking the same seven. A soft-ish string of fixtures should have seen us seize three confident, momentum-building wins ahead of a tricky visit from Man U, but, instead, we find ourselves in what amounts to an existential crisis. Just what is Arteta up to? Short answer: he’s pursuing longer-term goals. Long answer: ummm…

Okay, so no, they didn’t. Well, a few did. They’re the same “fans” who demanded Arteta be sacked after we stumbled to fifth place two seasons ago, after we failed to win the Prem last season, and after we lost to Man U over the summer. There are some fans whose emotional stability matches that of a ping pong ball in a bouncy house. Yes, on paper, we really should have trounced Fulham. That we ended up narrowly escaping with a point offers cold comfort. Arteta does deserve the lion’s share of the blame.