If ever there was an afternoon when any win would do, then this was it. Arsenal’s performance will not live long in the memory but change has to begin somewhere and Mikel Arteta now has some sort of platform from which to develop his new-look side. They showed glimmers of genuine potential and, once Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had turned in a singularly scruffy winner midway through the second half, rarely looked in trouble. Nobody present will be left under too many illusions, though, about the amount of work required to effect a meaningful recovery.
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