The personal travails of the manager aside, he will surely be pleased with the crop of players he now has at his disposal, a group fast-approaching the sort of dynamic, focussed, willing-to-work collection of players he seems to favour. These are a group of young leaders in the making, a young group that seems willing to listen and learn and with the capacity to do so.
Chelsea have yet to experience proper away crowd hostility and the Gunners faithful must do all it can to make the experience jarring.
It has been a long time since we have seen what amounts to a strategy in our transfer dealings and in our squad building.
If our problem persist, the only way is down for this side and the only way for the manager is out of the door.
Matteo's exuberance has made him a success, it could also prove his downfall and, indeed, very much did so at Arsenal.
Who stays and who goes? We run the rule over the current Arsenal squad
If, at the start of this campaign, we were told we'd concede fewer goals and win more games this year than last, who wouldn't have been delighted?
Arsenal were dumped out of the Europa League and deservedly so. To think it was at the hands of Unai Emery, the man who wasn't good enough to avoid the sack, adds a layer of irony that twists the knife in our guts.
Arteta and his staff can consider this first leg something of a let-off but it's a courtesy they won't be afforded again. Play like this next week and it's season over.
VAR calls happen with such frequency now that scoring a goal is essentially a 50/50 for this team. Once the ball crosses the line, it's anyone's guess as to whether it will be allowed.
