Before Arsenal laboured to victory at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, Mikel Arteta claimed: "we have one of the thinnest squads in the league, that's for sure." It was a genuinely staggering statement from the manager of a club that spent just under £200 million ($255m) on players last summer, a quite blatant and utterly nonsensical attempt to explain why the Gunners appear to be going backwards - or, at the very least, have failed to build on their breakout season.
When the 2023-24 campaign began, hopes were high that Arsenal could end an agonising 20-year-old Premier League title drought. Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya had been added to a side coming off the back of a second-placed finish, and while Manchester City were nearly everyone's favourites to win a fourth consecutive title, Arteta's hungry and talented team were expected to run the champions close. The common consensus was that Arsenal would, at the very least, prove that they are the coming force in English football.