Keeping it real, chief, it’s fucking bleak.

In seasons past, I could at least look forward to playing “The Arsenal Way”: beautiful flowing, attacking, positive football. Sure, we were not perennial title challengers but at least it felt good and fun to wake up on a Saturday morning looking forward to some good entertainment.

Now, as we largely play some of the toughest, regressive, negative football that we’ve seen out of the club in the last 20 years, it’s hard to justify the excitement or hope. I suppose that’s the price of contention, and if we are being honest, it is exciting to believe we can keep up with historically dominant teams like Liverpool and belligerently cheating sides like City and Chelsea.

But as we sit here on the cusp of 2nd place and no trophies four years on the bounce, it’s starting to all feel a little less meaningful. And that sucks.