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If Unai Emery had stayed? Where would we be now if Unai Emery wasn’t forced out by fans frustrated by an unpopular manager? His stuttering attempts at English became an excuse for comedic jeering, his frantic antics on the sidelines as he worked as an orchestral conductor, manically trying to tell players what to do and how to do it, was a source of annoyance and a distinct counterpart to his predecessor, Arsene Wenger ( who while animated, believed in allowing players express themselves) which all combined to make him unpopular with the fans. With no Arsenal connection. He was not given a true chance to mould Arsenal in his way and we will never know what the outcome would have been if he had been given that chance. Was it really necessary to make fun of a man trying to learn something new? However, logically, we can make some assumptions. If given the power to fix the team which Arteta was given, it seems likely that we would have major trophies by now. His teams have always overperformed and garnered plenty of trophies despite being underdogs. He works well with players who trust him and don’t try to undermine him as senior Arsenal players did with him, and Arteta when he took over. He is good with young players and gave Arsenal starts to Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Ainsley Maitland Niles, Charlie Patino and Ben Cottrell. He made us better First off, Arsenal improved under Emery, we were a close fifth, one position above Wenger’s last term and he got us into the Europa League final despite the fact that players were openly laughing at his English and his tendency to pronounce words the Spanish way. Arteta still has this tendency despite years in British football but Arteta has excellent English and his accent sounds normal for a Spanish person. You would never mistake him for a English person although many long term foreigners have chosen to speak with English accents which may provoke hilarity in their home countries. Buying Saliba was a masterstroke You may say, why am I talking so much about Emery’s English? Surely football prowess is what matters? Because I believe it was the single major reason the Kroenke’s decided to move him on. His own players were videoed poking fun at him and they may well have decided that he didn’t have the respect of the players and would not get it back. Senior star players had become a problem under Wenger and Emery would have needed to clear out this element and build his own team. It took Arteta a while but he now has players he can work with and is getting better performances. A strong argument that he would have succeeded? But, given what Emery has achieved at Aston Villa, there is a strong case that he would have sorted out Arsenal. Villa are now on the verge of being a major force in European football despite being a relegation basket case when he took over mid season in 2022/23 from Steven Gerrard. He immediately transformed them into winners, shooting them up the table and the following year breaking the so-called big six dominance by qualifying for the Champions League despite many players not really being considered true stars. "Martinelli, very early on I was excited about him. He’s become exactly the player I expected. He deserves everything coming his way." Jurgen Klopp What were his transfers like at Arsenal? Edu Gaspar was appointed shortly afterwards and I assume he would have also played a large role in who came in. There are some gems and some misses but a certain amount of understanding is needed for the misses. William Saliba is the prize and has become one of the world’s elite defenders. A gold star for Emery. Gabriel Martinelli is the second and despite some fans losing faith because injuries may have diminished him somewhat, he has still been one of our best players and helped Saka to bloom as, whenever pressure was put on Bukayo, Arsenal would switch to Martinelli and teams can’t put 2 players on both of them. Martinelli has been crucial to our rise; make no mistake, even if he may be pushed out because of incomers. Unlucky with injuries, and no faith in Martinez Kieran Tierney was surely the unluckiest of Emery’s buys. He was crucial from day one, darting forward, keeping wingers in his pocket, and just getting on with the game with no nonsense. We all loved him and still do but injury after injury kept him out and probably lessened his ability. I strongly believe that if he had been injury free he would have kept everyone out and been an Arsenal legend. His first year under Emery was good. Tierney at the back -we loved him Bernd Leno was and is a good keeper but struggles with the ground football beloved of Emery and Arteta. It is hard to say he was a bad buy, though, as his record shows lots of clean sheets for Arsenal and he kept out Emil Martinez, now regarded by many as the best goalkeeper in the world. Pepe – a spectacular miss or a freak run of circumstances? Nicolas Pepe didn’t work out but he did show some flashes of brilliance. The weight of the transfer fee, his struggle to learn English (this again), and the emergence of Bukayo Saka meant that he didn’t get a consistent chance to shine and his confidence plummeted. We will never know if, if everything had gone well for him, he may have become an Arsenal legend. His ability is not in doubt, but without confidence, no player can play well. Pepe - his confidence seemed to drain away Guendouzi is another who definitely had ability but his temperament was suspect. Roy Keane was similar in his younger days but managed to sort himself out. Guendouzi has become a regular at Lazio and at 26, is in the middle of his career. Could be that he will climb better heights. Lucas Torreira was not up to standard David Luiz was hit and miss but apparently he was great with the youngsters and helped them become better players. Dani Ceballos and Denis Suarez came from Real Madrid and could have been expected to do better. It is hard to fault the logic in taking them. Torreira and Lichtsteiner did not work out. Sokratis was not of the standard required. Overall, not a bad transfer record. We would now be winners? The point is, would he be now winning trophies? It is hard not to argue that he would. He would have had almost two more years than Arteta had and his record as a manager is certainly above Arteta’s at this moment. He has transformed Villa’s players and their reputations, he has brought in top players without crazy transfer fees and the players seem to love him, always praising him for their development. Arteta’s style of play is very similar as is his micromanagement of the team from the sidelines. Could we have won our dream trophy under Emery? I wonder if, if his English had not become a joke for everyone, would he have succeeded? Did his struggle with English undermine his connections to the Kroenke’s as well? Arteta has excellent English and seems to have a great connection with his bosses. They have never gone after him despite some bad runs and his lack of trophies. Emery didn’t even manage 2 years despite bringing some improvement on Wenger’s last season. It is a credit to Emery that despite the humiliation he received over his English, he bravely went back to England, took on the basket case that was Gerrard’s Villa, and pushed them close to the top of European football. PSG, the European Champions, had a tough battle against them. Don’t laugh, but we may have had many many very good ebenings if we had stayed with Unai Emery.

There’s only one magic number - 114 114 is the magic number. How come? Because that is when you have won all your matches in the Premier League. And the best so far? 100 points in 2018 for Manchester City. In recent years City have moved into realms only achieved in a few leagues such as Bayern Munich in Germany, Real Madrid in Spain, or Juventus in Italy. Bayern have 33 titles, well ahead of the best in England. Real Madrid have 36. Juventus also have 36. Bayern have a 91 points record but from 34 matches. Madrid have 100 from 38 matches. Juventus have 102 from 38 matches. Juventus will do anything to stay top and have been relegated to prove it These are astonishing numbers. They point to a supremacy that emphasises the gap between the top and the rest. Is it good? I say no. It means that there is little fairness in the system and the big teams grab any margin they can in their favour. Any advantage is a good advantage Margins are the reality now in major sports. What will give you any advantage no matter how small. The aim? To get to 100%. Then you win all matches. Before, if your star player or players were injured you would lose, but 5 subs and huge squads mean that, for instance, when Ederson at City was injured, Ortega came in and nobody could spot any difference. Guardiola rotated with abandon last season and still got 91 points. De Bruyne and Haaland were also injured but the margins were covered. Grealish was regarded as vital the previous season but this season struggled for a game. No Ederson - no problem Having a top class large squad of almost interchangeable players gives you the most improvement to your margins. The capacity to hire and fire players is also crucial. Guardiola and his team rarely seem to get it wrong. Cole Palmer? There is De Bruyne, Foden, Rodri, Silva, Grealish and many others there. He probably would have had to wait for a chance that might not have come. We must sell better One margin in this area that City have been doing better than Arsenal is in selling. We have let a lot of players go cheaply. Pepe, anyone? We have bought better in the past two seasons. Rice, Havertz, Trossard and Raya spring to mind but I feel we will be trying to sell players this summer and I am not sure if we will get a good price. I suggested here that up to 15 players could go and some may have to go cheaply. We will probably buy 3 or 4 but most likely for big money. Cole Palmer - Chelsea's best player couldn't get a game at City My point is that all margins have to be in our favour as they are at City. It is not enough to get most things right. City are close to achieving that 100% margin and we must beat them. Can we? We have to get everything right What do we need to get right? The players for sure. They must be good enough to win all matches. The manager must be able to get the maximum from his players. Does Arteta get more from his players than Guardiola? We will see. The recruitment and selling team must be able to buy and sell sustainably. Letting players go for free or cheap is a margin against us. The backroom team for the health and fitness of the players must ensure that injuries, stamina, and speed, etc. are kept to the best possible margin. Pepe - great business for Arsenal The business people in the club must gain every margin they can in maximising revenue from ticket sales, TV rights, merchandising, and memberships, to grow year on year. City have consistently moved upwards in fan numbers every year. Can Arsenal do the same? The Kroenkes are crucial to gaining the upper hand I feel that it is these margins for success that the Kroenkes are aware of. They know they must gain an advantage over City if they are to win. City, are, I suspect, saying the same thing. They must ensure that the margins they have at the moment are kept. Guardiola has come out on top of Arteta every year so far. We must get better. Can we? Who are the rivals? Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Aston Villa, the Spuds, and Newcastle are the chasers. I believe there are grounds for optimism with these clubs. I will go through them as they are written above but it is difficult, at this juncture to say who are the strongest. Upheaval at all rivals bar one Manchester United seem to need a squad overhaul with plenty of players coming in. Bedding them in will be a challenge. They also need to get their backroom teams at their peak to minimise injuries, etc and the new business management team will probably take some time to get their margins right. I will be surprised if Man Utd can get things right quickly enough. If they do start to get all margins up the following season could see them back challenging. They have huge revenue and a large fanbase to help them along. If Ten Hag is the right man this season will show this. Top four will be their best hope I feel. Will the new manager slot in at Liverpool? It is a huge ask and rarely happens when an iconic manager departs. Lots of good players and a system in place that tries to maximise the margins as Liverpool have got huge points totals in recent years but again I feel that they need to be really lucky with Arne Slot. Again I feel that top four is the best they can hope for. Arne Slot needs everything to go right at Liverpool - could be another Ten Hag Chelsea again have a new manager and while that worked for Abramovich it doesn’t work for Boehly. They need everything working right everywhere to challenge City and us. All margins wound to the top. Another bad year, I expect. Villa could make a jump upwards Villa? Unai Emery knows all about chasing down the margins. He will be working hard to get to 100%. Champions League football will make it harder. I feel he can be the dark horse, particularly if he buys right. The biggest danger. The Spuds? It seems like they have shot themselves in the foot again. When the Euros is over there are still top clubs and countries out there looking for a manager that wants to win. Ange could be their man. He lost the battle to get them to think like winners and that’s a big margin to change. He won’t be able. He will need the chasing pack to be poor, I feel, if he is to get top four. Newcastle? Their Arab owners are looking at every margin and trying to get them in their favour but the financial ones are a hamstring. Rumours are they have to sell. They could challenge for top four but I suspect they won’t quite get there. We will need more points, maybe quite a few more No player must be irreplaceable - not even Saliba If Arteta and the gang manage to put a couple more small margins in our favour we can do it. They will look at every area and see where we can improve. But so will City. Last year was our lucky year with minimal injuries. We will need to buy well and for the whole squad to be ready. Arteta will need two top players in every position so that even if William, Bukayo, Declan, or Martin get injured, we can carry on winning. We will need a huge amount of points and if I am right that the chasing pack are weaker this year, several more than last season. We will need to be close to that 100%. We need the magic number 114 in our sights.

Christmas crackers This year I have decided to give awards up to now in the season – the totally serious Gus Worth awards which are better than Ballon D’or, MOTM, or the Oscars. The Award ceremony will be held in Mar De Lago, Trump’s place in Florida, on New Years Eve. You are all invited. Tell Donald I sent you. Come to Mar De Lago, ASCB, for New Years Eve Worst defender of the season award – Declan Rice for allowing Alexander Arnold to get a shot away. There was only 5 Liverpool attackers, he should have just tackled them, taken the ball off them and sent them home crying. Only five Scousers, Declan? No Problem Biggest arguer of the season award- Mikel Arteta for constantly arguing with officials and getting cards. He will probably get the most cards of the whole squad and have to send himself home crying for not obeying the manager. Best goalkeeper award– Aaron Ramsdale for 27 games he has been there and only let in 9 goals. Worst Gabby of the season award– Martinelli for having the worst defensive record of all first choicers. He should be told to stop scoring goals and creating chances and get back there and… oh sorry, we have Declan Rice, we don’t need anyone else, the rest should be up attacking. Most drunk player award– William Saliba for drinking tequila all through the matches. How is that allowed? Mikel needs to show him who’s boss. The Saliba brand is the best Most useless player regarded by the fans award - Eddie Nketiah despite being our joint top scorer with Saka having 5 goals from 9 appearances, 8 as a substitute. No wonder the poor guy goes home crying every night. Almost a BFG award – Kai Havertz but still a bit smaller than the real one. My suggestion, Kai, is to wear high heels on the pitch, then you really will be the new BFG! Kai - you would look so good in high heels! Kicked up the arse every match award – Bukayo Saka. It is probably why he gets picked every match as his arse is too sore to sit on the bench. Saka - gets kicked so often he thinks he is in a Tom and Jerry cartoon Most successful pass rate award – William Saliba at 77.3 passes per match and 92.7 success rate. Probably because he is so drunk he gets rid of the ball quickly. Only alliterative name award – Takehiro Tomiyasu so perhaps he should be known as TT, but then that also stands for teetotaller and it might be a bit difficult playing alongside Saliba the Tequila. Should be our striker award – Martin Odegaard, at 2.3 he has the most shots per game. Shoot, Marty, shoot! Should be known as LFP award– Fabio Vieira, our smallest player, should be Little F… Portuguese. Fabio - The LFP Ball loser of the season award – surprisingly to me, Gabriel Jesus at 2.1 dispossessions per game and 2.6 bad controls per game. Mikel, you need to hide Saliba’s Tequila from Jesus. He obviously can’t handle his control or his drink. Scoring goals in the smallest number of minutes award – Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah who have the most sub appearances and yet 3 and 5 goals. They must keep away from the Tequila. And finally: The Referee and VAR team of the season award is Arsenal. They see fouls, handballs, no penalties, offsides and cards that no one else can see. It is great to know that we keep them happy. Maybe we ask Saliba to stop giving them presents of Tequila before the matches? They get so drunk they think it’s great fun messing us about. Don’t miss Mar De Lago and the awards ceremony. You can pick up your flights and hotel tickets for free from Georgi Stoyanov, Stan Kroenke himself has sent them on. This guy has all your tickets. Have a wonderful New Year.