I'm not sure how to call it with the "they've got x amount of points" argument.
On the one hand:
This season has been weird one for most of the big 6. Chelsea and Liverpool have been absolutely nowhere near challenging which has to be a help to Arsenal. City and Spurs haven't been at their best either. Does United's season cancel any of that out?
On the other hand:
I remember hearing the same things when it was City and Liverpool going at it. That it wasn't that those teams have been brilliant, it was the rest being so far off it, making it easier for them.
Overall, if they win the league, they'll have deserved to win it and they'll deserve the praise for a fantastic season. I just think they've undoubtedly benefited from other clubs who normally challenge having more distractions than usual personally. Though they do deserve praise adjusting to/coming through the injury setbacks they have had and we simply don't know how this Arsenal team would have fared going up against City and Liverpool in those frequently mentioned seasons.
I do wish they would stop comparing Peps 7 year spend to Arteta's 3 in their gassed up comparisons though. Surely, the only logical/fair comparison(if you're going to bother doing them at all) is a 7 season one or a 3 season one? Also, the managers are being credited for negotiations they had very little part in(it's not really them who have done the "good business"). They typically only decide who needs moving on and who needs bringing in, to the benefit of the team and the football they want to play.
Arsenal spent more than they realise before Arteta took the managers job and they've spent plenty since he's been in the job.
7 year net spend comparison: Arsenal have spent more than City. Not by loads(around £33m including academy players) but they have.
3 Year net spend comparison: Arteta has spent over twice as much net as Pep has in the same period. Yes you need to spend more to catch up if you're behind but that's where the hypocrisy towards Pep comes in with most of the big 6 fans.
Arteta has had a lot to sort out and done great job at it, doing that while being a new manager is the most impressive thing about that for me but the way the rest of the big 6 fans describe/compare the team/situation Pep walked into is complete bollocks. Just praise him without that and it's fine.
That City team scraped top 4 by the skin of it's teeth, just before Pep arrived. There was deadwood to shift, ageing players to replace, completely different type of players to suit the new system required(which he had to do without in his first season) and a problem that Arsenal don't have to deal with in the process... The perception that City have unlimited funds which can affect incoming and outgoing transfers making it slightly more difficult for Txiki. Alot was spent in his first two seasons but there was a lot to do and Pep was already tearing up the league in just his second season(mentoring Arteta while he was at it) which is always glossed over in their comparisons.
That's the only gripe I have, all Pep got was criticism, even though the very things Arteta is being praised for were present and the money spent excuse is now void because of the net spend facts I showed above... but the arguments against Pep at City will never change.
