Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa was wrong about Arsenal.
The Gunners are preparing to face Leeds on Sunday as they look to snap out of a run of three games without a win, including two defeats.
Arsenal and Leeds are just one point apart in the Premier League table - though the latter have played a game less - making this a potentially pivotal game in the race for a top seven spot.
But the top seven is not what Arsenal will have been aiming for ahead of this season, performing well below par to date and finding themselves very much looking up at the European places.
And that's shown by Leeds boss Bielsa's comments on the Gunners ahead of the first meeting between these two sides this season, a goalless draw in November.
“Arsenal is one of the best teams in the league,” said Bielsa.
“They have players of hierarchy in all their lines and they have a manager who proposes the style which distinguishes the team.
“Arteta is a coach who wants his team to play as he projects and from a tactical point of view, if you watch Arsenal closely they show things that I have never seen in any other team.
“In that game in January we played well in the first half and not in the second half.
“The improvement of Arsenal in the second half neutralised all the good things we did in the first half."
Arsenal have since proven Bielsa wrong, and not in the right way, currently 11th and six points off seventh place, despite having played two more than seventh-placed Everton.
The Gunners are a whopping 19 points behind leaders Manchester City, and it's pretty clear Arteta's men have a long way to go until they reach become what Bielsa says they are.
