OLIVER HOLT ON ARSENAL’S PROBLEMS

Then he gets sent off for two bookable offences in four minutes and neither of the cautions is the most newsworthy yellow card in the club’s day.

Another yellow card, shown to an as yet unnamed player earlier this season, is being investigated by the Football Association. Some £52,000 was wagered on that player to get booked late in a game and it came in. We all know which Arsenal player we’d stick that bet on but you wouldn’t get long odds. You would have to bet your house on it to turn a decent profit.

Anyway, back to Partey. He did not miss a single Arsenal league game while he was away playing for Ghana in Cameroon. But now that he is back, his antics against Liverpool in that Carabao Cup semi-final mean he will miss today’s Premier League clash with Burnley. As is the custom these days, he released an official apology on Instagram for his actions.

It is little wonder that the phrase ‘So Arsenal’ was trending on Twitter on Friday. As Mikel Arteta’s team finds themselves condemned to another season without a trophy, struggling to make the top four and mocked for ducking last weekend’s north London derby, the rest of the football nation is laughing at their expense.

Some Arsenal fans have watched the last week’s comic capers with despair and concluded that Arteta should no longer be trusted with the task of trying to restore the club to former glories.

That strand of opinion does not see progress at the Emirates. It points to the same old failings, particularly in lack of discipline, but also in defeat after defeat at the hands of the top clubs.

Arsenal go into today’s game against Burnley at the Emirates outside the top four and still — as the tie against Liverpool proved — a level below Jurgen Klopp’s team and Manchester City, and perhaps Chelsea too.

Arteta is now in his third year in charge at the club after taking over from Unai

Emery and many had been hoping for more advances. English football is a more impatient place than it has ever been and Thomas Tuchel is already feeling the heat at Chelsea even though he led them to victory in the Champions League final in Porto less than eight months ago. Arteta has already survived at least one brush with the sack and now the questions have returned. The Liverpool defeat was a blow. There is no sugar-coating that. Yes, it was only the Carabao Cup but it was also Arsenal’s last chance of silverware this season and there was a feeling that, with Liverpool weakened by the absences of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, the tie represented an opportunity to progress to the final.

Arsenal never looked like seizing that opportunity. They were outclassed. Liverpool are still some way ahead of them in the evolutionary process but that is not a reason for anyone at Arsenal to press the panic button. They are starting from a low base but they are a team on the rise. They still have bad days but they are increasingly outweighed by the good ones. They need to stick with it.

That means sticking with Arteta, who is growing into the role all the time. It means not making a change and throwing everything up in the air. Look where that has got Manchester United. They are a mess of players brought for the different styles favoured by different managers. Their team are less of a whole and more of a collection of desert islands with a few players marooned on each. Arsenal feel different. It feels as if they are

more cohesive. And, for all their lapses of discipline, there is an optimism about the players Arsenal have that doesn’t exist at Old Trafford or, say, at Tottenham.

Arsenal have youth and they have flair. Who could fail to be excited by a team that can line up with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Partey, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and Kieran Tierney?

The club seem to see it that way too. They are said to be preparing to offer Arteta a new deal to avoid him entering the final 12 months of his contract or being targeted as a replacement for Pep Guardiola, when his old boss leaves City.

That should reassure Arsenal fans. It’s the right move.

It feels as if Arteta is building something at Arsenal. They finished eighth in both of his previous seasons but they will be higher at the end of this year.

They look healthier as a club than they have done for some time. After managerial misadventures, Spurs have put their hopes in the quick fix of Antonio Conte and United are mired in directionless toxicity. Arsenal look best placed to emerge from the pack and join the race with City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Whether that comes to pass depends on recruitment, of course. Arteta has emerged stronger from his confrontation with PierreEmerick Aubameyang but Arsenal need to prove they can replace him with a top-line forward, someone such as Fiorentina’s highly-rated young striker Dusan Vlahovic.

Arsenal’s owners need to prove now they have the ambition to back the advances Arteta has made.

The summit is still a long way off but they can at least see the way there. Some day, punters might even stop betting on when they’re going to get their next yellow card. Maybe then, we’ll know Arsenal are really on the right track.

IT FEELS AS IF ARTETA IS BUILDING SOMETHING AT ARSENAL