A Premier League season is a marathon not a sprint. It is a cliché that the experienced Unai Emery will do well to remember as he bids to guide his new Arsenal team through a treacherous first few weeks that started with defeat to Manchester City and continues with a huge clash against Chelsea on Saturday evening. Victory for the Gunners at Stamford Bridge would help to restore a rare sense of calm in North London, although the portents aren't good.
Arsenal rarely diverged away from their seemingly default mode of cataclysmic chaos towards the latter stages of Arsene Wenger's reign as manager and the appointment of Emery in the summer was supposed to spark the dawn of a new era. Defeat to City last Sunday wasn't the best start as it continued Arsenal's grim record against fellow traditional 'Big Six' teams (City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea) and the challenge for the new boss is to change the defeatist mentality of the players in these games.
Arsenal have won just 12 of their 60 matches against the 'Big Six' since the start of the 2012/13 season and their record when travelling away from The Emirates makes for grim reading.
Three wins, nine draws and 18 defeats on the road against supposedly fellow 'big' teams is a woeful return and it is a trend that is getting worse.
Since the start of the 2015/16 campaign, Arsenal have failed to beat any of the other five teams that traditionally finish around them in the table - a run that stretches back to a 1-0 win over City on 18th January 2015 - and they have lost eight of the last ten such away games.
Such statistics don't bode well ahead of a meeting with Chelsea, who have traditionally done well against fellow top-six teams - won 16, drawn eight, lost six - and the Blues are 5/6 favourites for victory with bookmakers this weekend.
The challenge for Emery is clear. He has signed better players during the course of the summer transfer window and he will hope that the new additions can have an impact on the mentality of Gunners players who have seemingly forgotten how to travel. It is an issue that isn't limited to facing the bigger teams as Arsenal lost seven of their eight away league games during 2018, although it would be a timely boost at the start of Emery's reign if they were able to take three points away from a huge fixture at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
It's a marathon not a sprint. It could be a long slog if Arsenal suffer yet another defeat at the hands of a supposed rival.
