A year is a long time in football - just ask Antonio Conte.
Back in May, the Italian was the toast of Tottenham after steering the Londoners to an unlikely top-four finish at the expense of their arch-rivals, Arsenal, following a remarkable late turnaround.
Mikel Arteta's side had seemed certain to qualify for the Champions League following an impressive run of form earlier in the season. But their fate was effectively sealed courtesy of a 3-0 reverse in the North London derby: a result which sparked a catastrophic implosion during the final weeks of the 2021/22 campaign.
Very few people, if any, would have backed the Spaniard to outlast Conte given Gunners fans were practically baying for Arteta's blood at the time. But it's the Arsenal boss who is currently at the summit of the Premier League and Conte who is now out of work.
Conte was quick to rub salt into Arteta's wounds that day by quipping that the Arsenal chief "complains a lot" following comments directed at the match officials on the day.
The Italian said: "Mikel Arteta is a really good coach. He's just started to do this job and I listen to him complain a lot. He has to be focused more on his team and not to complain, because he's just started this work. He has to be calm and try to continue to work."
It's fair to say those comments haven't aged particularly well, though; while Conte's Tottenham tenure has slowly unravelled this season before a remarkable meltdown earlier this month effectively sealed his fate, Arteta and Arsenal have been busy penning one of the most unlikely stories in recent top-flight memory with their shock title challenge.
Conte's exit, which was via mutual consent and confirmed late on Sunday night, felt inevitable ever since he let rip in a scathing press conference earlier this month after Tottenham had surrendered a two-goal lead against Southampton.
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Months after lecturing Arteta about complaining, Conte, somewhat ironically, tore into his players for being "selfish" before suggesting there is a rotten culture at the club to complete one of the most explosive rants in Premier League history.
"I see selfish players, I see players that don't want to help each other and don't put their heart [in]," he fumed, before adding: "I see only 11 players that play for themselves.
"Why is it happening? Because they are used to it here, they are used to it. They don't play for something important yeah. They don't want to play under pressure, they don't want to play under stress. It is easy in this way."
There was never going to be a way back after that. Did anybody see the marriage between Tottenham and Conte splitting this spectacularly, or this swiftly, back in May? Probably not; Conte has left jobs on a sour note before, but he and Tottenham seemed to be on a completely different trajectory to Arteta and Arsenal less than a year ago.
However, in the end, it looks like Arteta, rather than Conte, is set to have the last laugh. And in truth, Conte can probably have few complaints.
