Claudius difference is Arteta eventually built towards a contender. Late stage Wenger and Emery were entirely static
Emery was undermined by Raul and co, had players forced on him, and was mocked by both the players and the media. It was a pretty shit time at the club, from top to bottom. Sven was brought in but quickly pushed out by Gazidiz, Gazidis left soon after, Raul was appointed only to be dismissed shortly after Arteta arrived. The players were toxic, (at least that was the line used as to why Arteta had to clear them out).
Emery managed to secure a 5th place finish, but was sacked after a poor start to the 2019/2020 season. Given that we missed out on 4th by a single point and reached the Europa League final in his only full season, it's debatable whether his dismissal was truly warranted. The truth is, we can't know what Emery could have achieved with more time and support.
Similarly, if it was reasonable to sack Emery after that rough start in 2019/2020, then the same logic could have applied to sacking Arteta after a poor 2020/2021 start, which saw us finish 8th. Or after the team's collapse at the end of 2021/2022, yet Arteta was given even more backing. The subsequent two seasons were competitive and enjoyable, but predicting success after such rough starts seemed as unlikely as predicting Emery could have turned things around during that early 2019/2020 slump.
As for Arsène, despite all the criticism he faced towards the end for compromising on his principles and becoming increasingly combative and irritated with the fans and the mounting pressure, he still delivered just two seasons outside the top 4 in over 20+ years (one 5th place and one 6th place). This was alsp a period with significant issues in the background, like the power struggle between Kroenke and Usmanov, and Gazidis increasingly taking control of the club, effectively sidelining and eventually sacking Arsene.
Arsene may have been past it, but towards the end he was like someone who saw the end coming. Looking back it kind of explains why he was less willing to take the long term approach he used to have in terms of squad building and player development, and ended up turning exclusively to experienced (shit) guys and being more pragmatic with his football in order to get top 4 and save himself for another season.
So yeah, sorry to rehash some of these old discussions, but thing are how they are now because of hindsight. Had he been sacked back then he'd be an anecdote ibto our history like Emery. Difference is one was backed and given patience when the other wasn't. After that it's hard to say for certain whether Emery would have managed to get us in the CL, whether he would have got us challenging for the PL, and whether he would have even won us both of those trophies because we can't predict the future. All we can say for cerain is he did not get that opportunity to fix the squad and get his own players in.
Edit: Long post above. Don't click "details" unless you're sitting on the shitter and have a few mins 😆
TLDR ** @Claudius, you're right, late stage Arsene and Emery's second season start were not good enough, but neither was Arteta's second season start. Similarly you're, Arteta did eventually build towards us being a contender (key word being eventually) after a lot of patience and a shit ton of money, something Emery was never given. No one knows what Emery would have built with the same backing Arteta had**
