On August 18th, after we'd lost our second game in a row under Unai Emery (outplayed by City and a narrow loss to Chelsea) I wrote that cooler heads must prevail, despite already being zero for two I argued that Emery would need at least a season to get things steady at Arsenal Football Club.
It appears however, that despite still needing time, it may not be as much as we first assumed. Team Emery has clicked from back to front and now everything appears to have fallen into place and as we're on the cusp of what will be Arsenal's twentieth game unbeaten should they win against Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow night, which includes qualifying for the Europa League round of 32 at the first time of asking and a wonderfully convincing first blood victory over North London rivals Spurs, we have to wonder what has changed between Unai Emery's inception and now? I don't believe anybody was questioning the new regime that was coming in post-Wenger, however I also don't blame anybody who blanched when someone uttered the phrase "maybe Emery can come in and just shake the foundations of Arsenal Football Club" but there you have it, he appears to be doing so for now at least. Every week I look at the current fixture and at the current line-up we have available and every week since the West Ham game I've grown more and more confident seeing the personnel available to us and the nods of approval have been heavier each time. Things have definitely changed at Arsenal, from players like Alex Iwobi and Granit Xhaka who're coming on leaps and bounds since Emery came on board (it could be argued he's getting something out of them that was always there but Wenger couldn't find) to all newcomers like Mattéo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira who has been absolutely dominating the midfield and could arguably be the League's best DM currently, all the way up to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who currently sits on top of the Premier League top scorers list with 10 (of which were from 10 shots on goal), two ahead of Kane, Aguero and Sterling with those goals coming every 104 minutes in comparison to 157, 121 and 128 respectively.
Lucas Torreira has been in impressive form this season for the Gunners
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we are remotely title contenders just yet and I'm not even sure how long we can keep this streak up, but I can say that even as a staunch Wenger defender (until 2016) I've never been as excited to watch my team play as I've been this season for a long time and I've never been as confident going into big games like Sunday's against Spurs or tomorrow night's at Old Trafford. I don't know what's changed at my club, whether it be the focus, the work or just simply people's attitudes toward the next game in front of them, but I like it... And as I said on August 18th, keep our heads and good things will come!