Second may still be nowhere in certain winner-takes-all habitats, but for Arsenal right now fourth feels like the Promised Land.

The EPL table is distorted by Covid, but to be sitting in a Champions League place after the way they started the season is quite a recovery.

After three games, Arsenal – as no Gooner needs reminding – were bottom and, piling salt into that gaping wound, Spurs were top.

Yep, those Tottenham fans who had the foresight to frame the table have a collector’s item already.

The Gunners were badly misfiring and had been humiliated by little Brentford who were making their first appearance in the top flight in 74 years.

There was rumbling discontent in the dressing room and anger in the stands.

And Mikel Arteta was among the favourites for the sack race.

Arsenal were one of the summer’s big spenders, but it looked as if they’d bought duds.

As if all this wasn’t enough, manager and captain were not on the same wavelength.

In fact, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seldom looked interested which left fans with an ominous sense of deja vu.

Mesut Ozil had finally departed but here was another outrageously overpaid and fading superstar slipping into his shoes on the club’s naughty step.

Four goals in 14 league appearances ensured that Auba just about avoided the missing person’s list but were a paltry return for a striker of his calibre.

But that doesn’t even begin to tell the story.

He did help himself to a hattrick in the Carabao Cup in August but that was against a second-string, second-tier West Brom.

Since when there have been more sulks than goals.

He disappeared from games, attending the coin toss and then not giving a toss.

What makes Arsenal’s (and their manager’s) rise all the more praiseworthy is that it’s been achieved against this backdrop.

It’s not yet reached Ozil levels of toxicity, but it’s getting there.

This week, Arsenal had two convincing victories without Auba who was also stripped of the captaincy before the win over West Ham.

“Arriving late” is a characteristic of goal poachers but, unfortunately for Arsenal, Auba applied the habit off the field as well.

Last week, he was late for training for the umpteenth time after being given a special exemption to see his mother in France.

Having cut his skipper quite a bit of slack in the past, Arteta wasn’t having it any more.

Strengthening the manager’s – and the club’s – hand is that the Gabonese is no longer the player that grabbed 22 league goals in each of his first two full seasons.

He bagged just 10 in this third, but this season he is more yesterday’s man than talisman.

Adding to the feeling that he already belongs to Arsenal’s past is the emergence of a battery of hungry young guns.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have been on England’s radar for a while and are developing into an exciting double act in midfield.

And Martin Odegaard is finally justifying some – but not all – of the hype that made Real Madrid sign him as a 16-year-old.

But the more likely source of goals could be Gabriel Martinelli, the exciting Brazilian who electrifies the Emirates whenever he gets the ball.

The 20-year-old is certainly not a like-for-like replacement for Aubameyang and Arteta regards him as more of a winger anyway.

But he looks every inch Arsenal’s future go-to man with Auba stuck in the past.

The former Dortmund striker is now being linked with a move to Barcelona to take over from the sadly-retired Sergio Aguero.

Besides fearing that Barca might be making another wrong choice, we have to wonder how they are going to pay him.

It could be another sad end for a player who has been among European football’s most natural predators in his time.

And he’s played for top managers with Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel among those to get a tune out of him.

Perhaps there’s a clash of personalities with Arteta who comes across as a serious dude.

But the Spaniard, who learned the managerial ropes as assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, is now reaping belated rewards for his summer investments.

None more so than Aaron Ramsdale whose reflexes, athleticism and distribution have not only given defenders confidence but are pushing Jordan Pickford for the England gloves.

The rearguard looks altogether stronger with Kieran Tierney exuding class and Ben White, a £50m centreback from Brighton, settling in after an uncertain start.

With Thomas Partey bringing strength as well as guile to midfield without the madcap moments of Granit Xhaka, the outlook is much brighter than it was in August.

Arsenal will still have a fight on their hands to finish fourth but at least they’re in contention.

As for Aubameyang, Gooners must feel the sooner they see the back of another who went from instant hero to milking the club, the better.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.