In what will inevitably now feel like the longest end to a Premier League season ever, Mikel Arteta will today be subjected to quite a painful press conference experience, I’d wager.

Not only does he have to sit in front of the press and talk about the fallout from the PSG defeat and exit in the Champions League, but he’ll also have to talk about the Liverpool game, Liverpool’s season, Arne Slot and other such nonsense that I bet he feels he could really do without.

I really feel for him. I’ve titled today’s blog ‘Meh Part I’ because that’s how I feel and I am seriously contemplating just not bothering watching the Liverpool game on Sunday. What’s the point? Seeing a Guard of honour? Listening over-and-over to Neville and Carragher talk up Liverpool and talk down Arsenal as not having enough and how their season has petered out? It’ll be unbearable. It’s very rare – almost impossible – that I miss an Arsenal match if I am not forced in to it by work, family commitments or other things like being on holiday, flying, etc. But for this weekend I’m 90% sure I’ll give this game a massive swerve.

But Mikel can’t. He has to sit there today and try to put a brave face on the situation. He has to deal with every repetitive and annoying question about Liverpool’s greatness and our fallibility. If he dares mention the fact that Liverpool have had 14 separate injuries this season and we’ve had almost double that (27) he’ll be shot down as an excuse maker. Against PSG I saw somebody say something about how PSG needed to find answers in an attacking sense and went out and spent £100million on Doue and Kvaratskhelia in the summer and January, whereas Mikel got given Sterling and then nobody. It made me realise that yes, there certainly was a difference in both boxes and yes, that absolutely needs to be addressed.

And you can call me an Arteta-sympathiser if you want. I’m going to own that, because I think what this Arsenal team has had to deal with via decisions, injuries and sometimes just rotten luck (why does everyone seem to score against us with mega-low xG shots and also with their first effort??). Yet they have still managed to get us in to a position where we should qualify for the Champions League and we have made the last four of the biggest competition in football. You get no praise for second and reaching that far in the competition, but there should be some going his way, as well as his team’s.

And my hope is that Arteta uses this current position as a strong hand to get the club to go out and do the required business this summer. That’s all I’m thinking about now. Not Liverpool away, not Newcastle at home, not Southampton away. All of those games have such a whiff of ‘meh’ about them that if I could just fast-forward the next couple of week’s I absolutely would. No, what I want to look at now for the future is that he’s backed again and Arsenal go and do what is required in the market. The pitch is already there; “come to The Arsenal – we’ve competed for the title (or would have done were it not for unfortunate circumstances this season)  and been towards the top for the last three seasons, we’re the top four in terms of teams in Europe, you get to be coached by one of the top coaches in world football”. That’s the sell and I think it should be an easier one for Arsenal than it’s ever been before.

And there’s money on the table too here folks. By reaching the Champions League semi final Arsenal will be getting at least £12.5million (€15million). For finishing third Arsenal get 34 ‘shares’ of the prize money (the team in last place (36th) get one ‘share’ of the pot which is worth €275k, the second from last – in 35th – get two shares, etc) which equates to around £8million (€9.35million). There’s also a pot for an equal distribution which works out at around £15.8million (€18.62million). That makes a total of around 63% of the pot and the rest is a complex amount called a ‘value pillar’ which is based on coefficients and broadcasting rights. This is a complex one that I struggle to fully understand, but the total prize pot is £723.6milliono (€853million) and even if that was split evenly it’s £20million for Arsenal. I don’t have the knowledge on how the coefficients work (it includes things like performance in last 10 years, the broadcasting contribution of the country the team plays in – so that will be high for us), but I bet you can probably double that at least. Here’s the article I took that from if you want a long read to understand.

That gives Arsenal at least £76.5million, but I’ve seen people suggest it’ll be closer to £100million, which I can absolutely believe. Then you factor in Premier League prize money of £175.5million if Arsenal manage to hold on to second place, which brings a prize money pot for Arsenal of over £275million. I’m not going to dig into matchday revenue, sponsorship, etc, but to me this shows the winfall the club are in and this summer simply must be the one that Arsenal have to get right in an attacking sense.

No more Raheem Sterling’s.

No more “let’s keep out powder dry”.

We have to go for it. Arteta needs to be given a wealth of attacking tools and Andrea Berta has to deliver on the enthusiasm that Arsenal fans have with his arrival. I know it’s not just him, I know there’s Richard Garlick and a whole team behind them, but the decision to do nothing in January was supposedly with the summer in mind. Now the club must act.

Heck, they can start the ball rolling now, because the season is done, Arsenal fans don’t care and more about it. Stick it in the bin and start making your moves, Arsenal.

Might be back tomorrow for some views, might not.

Laters kids.