Just days before he was appointed Arsenal head coach, Mikel Arteta sat in the visiting dugout at Emirates Stadium as part of Manchester City’s backroom staff. The Spaniard left feeling down and with a sense Arsenal had lost their way, such was the mood at the club.

There is never a good time to lose a north London derby but for both Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou a defeat on Wednesday would only serve to further rile fanbases whose murmurs of discontent have grown more audible.