Yesterday The Arsenal Women had a trophy lift session at The Emirates and I have to say, it was some really positive #content for us to watch and re-watch, after a difficult season for the Men’s team.

And if you think about it, it has also been difficult for the women too; they didn’t start great, lost their manager, had to go through a bit of a process to find the new one, pick up form from the pieces of Eidvall’s time in charge, then go again under Renee Slegers. They’ve had their turmoil this season and have come out the other side – fair play to all of the players.

From the men’s perspective, it’s just good that we close the book on this season, which hasn’t been the best. But as I reflected yesterday on the season on the Same Old Arsenal podcast with Amanda and James, I can’t exactly say it’s been terrible. I have been talking about this season being ‘cursed’ for a while now, but in reality we’ve still finished second and got to the semi final of the Champions League, all whilst doing it with the biggest injury list by far of any team in any of the competitions we’ve played in. This Arsenal team has often metaphorically played with one hand tied behind its back; some of it through the misfortune of injuries, some of it through horrendous refereeing decisions, some of it through our own errors and mistakes. But there can be no doubt that Arteta’s men have gone over and above what many rivals could have done with the adversity that has been overcome.

So I when I tell myself that this season is ‘cursed’, perhaps I need to soften the language a little, because we’ve had many worse season’s than this one in recent history. That’s for sure. The final few years of apathy under Wenger were not fun. The ‘Part Two’ of the Unai Emery reign was woeful at times. Even Arteta’s first full season was looking like it was going to tank hard before we brought it back from the brink and finished eighth. So yeah, this season has been one with high expectations and one in which we can all be a little disappointed with not coming out the other side with trophies, but it by far and away hasn’t been as bad as I think some are making it out to be.

We do need to build on it though. Next season is now massive for Arteta. He and his team will be desperate to get over the line, because it’s in danger of becoming a bit Pochettino-y if something isn’t delivered next season. We can all be pleased that we are competitive, I still have so much faith in Arteta, but that last step needs to be taken now. We can’t have another season of ‘what if?’

To me that also means he needs to get those deals done. Go get him a centre forward, get him that number six, get the winger in and find him another left back (we need more!). Do the work, do it early, get yourself set up for a good pre season and be ready to go – all engines fired up – come August.

Arteta’s words have felt like that too. In the aftermath of the meaningless 2-1 win over Southampton he was talking up how he is excited for the new season already. He spoke about how plans are already in place for what they want to do over the summer and he is clearly already making the noises to KSE and Andrea Berta: “Get me these deals done ASAP” – this is good. This is what we need. This is how we need to act – quickly and decisively – so let’s make sure all of this work comes to fruition in these early parts of summer. I think I speak for most Arsenal fans when I say that we don’t want any more Deadline Day Sterling’s. We need to take the enhanced reputation from competing at the top of the league, from being in the semi final of the Champions League, and act on it by getting going. Now.

I think Arteta is going to be an impatient man this summer and I therefore think he’ll be pushing for early moves too. I remember the Podolski deal way-back-when getting done basically when the season was finished. That’s be cause there was a release clause there that Arsenal activated. Do the same with Zubimendi now. Get that done, then we move on to the next one. Whoever that striker is, just get moving and do it quickly. You get two or three of those big positions filled and I think most Arsenal fans would be fine to wait for the additional players to augment an already talented squad. But the longer we go this summer with seemingly little movement, the more I think there will be murmurings of discontent and nerves that we once again aren’t setting ourselves up for the best possible season ahead.

Time to be proactive, Arsenal.