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There is no doubt in my mind that Mikel Arteta and those around him made the decision to gamble the opportunity Arsenal earned themselves this season. Champions League qualification was barely spoken of after back-to-back eighth-place finishes.

Yet, Arsenal’s recruitment in the summer enabled Arteta to construct a starting eleven capable of elevating itself into the argument. Buoyed also by Manchester United and Tottenham’s struggles, winter came around with a problem that had not snuck up on the club.

Well ahead of the opening of the January window Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s captaincy was stripped and his subsequent actions meant Arteta saw no choice but to remove him from first-team actions. I have no problem with a manager disciplining a player and even exiling them from the group if it is for the betterment of the team.

Arteta put it best himself on how actions on the field can allow leeway for the bending of club rules. If you deliver, you earn that buffer.

“I don’t think I am too hard on that to be fair. I don’t know the perceptions externally, but there are some minimums, and there is a line that you cannot cross. If somebody’s