How Arsenal's eight-point lead has been wiped out in a month
Mikel Arteta’s lack of rotation has caused tired legs, Eddie Nketiah can’t be Gabriel Jesus every week and the Saliba-Gabriel partnership is creaking as errors creep in – How Arsenal’s eight-point lead over Man City has been wiped out in just a month
- Arsenal were eight points clear at the top after beating Tottenham last month
- Their lead has now vanished after losing two of their last three matches
- Mikel Arteta has several problems to solve to get his side back on track
When Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 in last month’s north London derby, it felt like a big moment for Mikel Arteta’s men.
The Gunners showed their class in the first half to cruise into a commanding lead before holding firm at the back after the break. That result moved them eight points clear at the top of the table, and perhaps it was the first time that fans started really believing that this could be a title-winning team.
A week later, Arsenal refused to be denied as they played out a modern-day classic against Manchester United, eventually edging the five-goal thriller. Arteta’s side had faced two massive tests and passed them both with flying colours.
Yet just a few weeks later, the landscape now looks far less rosy. Arsenal were the victims of a Sean Dyche masterclass as the new Everton boss led his side to a shock 1-0 win at Goodison Park.
They hoped to bounce back quickly in their home game against Brentford, but were held to a 1-1 draw following a controversial VAR decision for the Bees’ equaliser.
Mikel Arteta has watched his team go from eight points clear to second place in a month
But it was Wednesday night’s defeat by Manchester City that was the most damaging setback. Following that loss, Arsenal are no longer top of the table, with City moving ahead of them on goal difference, albeit the north London club have a game in hand.
How have things unravelled for Arsenal so quickly? Sportsmail takes a look at the issue that have hindered the team as their title charge falters.
Arteta’s lack of rotation begins to backfire
Having a settled starting XI is often seen as a positive, with players knowing their roles to a tee.
This was a strength of Arsenal’s throughout the first half of the season as Arteta was consistently able to pick the same players every week, and they delivered for him.
But the fixtures are coming thick and fast, especially after the campaign was interrupted by the World Cup, and this has started to take its toll on some of Arsenal’s first team regulars.
Gabriel Martinelli was electric before Christmas, but has looked tired in recent weeks, and was unable to get the better of Kyle Walker on Wednesday.
Granit Xhaka has been reborn at Arsenal over the past 12 months, but playing every game now seems to be having an effect on him, with his final ball and decision-making questionable against City.
Granit Xhaka has looked jaded in recent matches and struggled against Manchester City
Even captain Martin Odegaard has gone off the boil a little in the last few games, and this has undoubtedly had an impact on the team’s results.
Arsenal were also hit with the news on Wednesday that Thomas Partey has a muscle issue. The Ghanaian is vital in the middle of the park, but his injury history has been worrying since he arrived at the club, and playing him every game is unlikely to have helped.
Arteta has made it clear that he has total faith in his players, claiming that he loves them even more after a defeat, but his reluctance to give some of them a breather has become a problem at a crucial stage in the season.
Limited bench options
In order to rotate his squad, Arteta needs to have confidence that the players coming in can match the standards of his regular starting XI. This is also a concern.
When Arsenal are not firing on all cylinders and Arteta turns to his bench, it has become predictable as to who will enter the fray.
January signing Leandro Trossard coming on for Martinelli has become a standard substitution, while Fabio Vieira and Takehiro Tomiyasu have also emerged as players that the Spanish manager brings on to change the game.
And that’s about it.
To win a title, a manager will typically want around 18-20 players that can make a difference, but the Gunners are well short of that number right now, despite spending big in recent transfer windows.
Compare the bench that Arteta named on Wednesday to the one that Pep Guardiola had at his disposal in the opposite dugout and it highlights that a significant gap in squad depth still exists between the two title rivals.
Arteta has Leandro Trossard as a strong option off the bench, but his other options are limited
Errors creeping in
Arteta wants his side to dominate possession and play out from the back at all times to take control of matches.
Arsenal did exactly that on Wednesday against City, enjoying 64 per cent possession, but were still soundly beaten. And that is because they made basic errors.
Tomiyasu was handed a rare start but failed to make the most of it as his wayward back-pass was pounced upon by Kevin De Bruyne who lobbed Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal got themselves back on level terms thanks to Bukayo Saka’s penalty, but then contrived to gift City another goal when Gabriel fluffed his clearance, and three passes later Jack Grealish had restored the visitor’s lead.
Aside from the two soft goals, Arsenal looked jittery in possession at the back throughout the second half.
Takehiro Tomiyasu gifted Kevin De Bruyne a goal as he badly under-hit his back-pass
Oleksandr Zinchenko gave the ball away cheaply and had to be bailed out of trouble by Ramsdale, while the goalkeeper himself was guilty of rolling the ball out to Gabriel when the defender wasn’t even looking and was fortunate that the defender looked up just in time.
There were groans around the stadium, with supporters sensing that the next mistake was just around the corner, and this resulted in Arsenal losing their way in the second half.
With each passing error, the energy in the Emirates drained away and City took advantage of that to pick up a big win in the title race.
Nketiah is no Jesus
As soon as Gabriel Jesus picked up a serious injury at the World Cup, alarm bells would have been ringing for Arsenal fans.
While the Brazilian had not been prolific in the first part of the season, he had played a crucial role in the team’s build-up play and looked to be the perfect fit for what Arteta is trying to accomplish.
The Gunners had a big decision to make over whether to dip into the January market for a replacement or stick with Eddie Nketiah to fill the void.
The chose the latter option, and were swiftly rewarded when the 23-year-old scored against West Ham and Brighton before bagging a brace in the win over Manchester United.
The goals have dried up for Eddie Nketiah after he played a starring role when he first came into the team
However, the goals have dried up since then, and he missed two clear headed chances against City, the first of which would have broken the deadlock in the match.
Nketiah is not playing poorly, as shown by his sharpness to get on the end of the through ball to win Arsenal’s penalty, but his finishing has started to let him down and he does not offer as much as Jesus in open play.
Arsenal badly need him to rediscover his magic touch, with the team having scored just twice in their last four matches in all competitions.
Saliba-Gabriel partnership looks vulnerable
William Saliba and Gabriel had a strong case for being the best centre-back partnership in the league in the first half of the season.
Saliba immediately became a fans’ favourite after returning from his loan spell at Marseille, while Gabriel has been in the team for a few seasons now and has gone from strength to strength.
But the pair have looked fragile recently. Saliba had a difficult outing against Ivan Toney on Saturday as the Brentford man troubled him with his physicality, and it was Gabriel’s turn to have an off-night against City.
William Saliba and Gabriel have started to look shaky at the back in recent weeks
The Brazilian clumsily brought down Erling Haaland for a penalty, only to be rescued by VAR who ruled that the striker was just offside in the build-up.
He did not heed that warning, though, and made another avoidable error a few minutes later as his loose clearance was intercepted and led to Grealish’s goal.
Saliba and Gabriel are two young defenders, making mistakes an inevitability, but they have suffered dips in form at the worst possible moment and the side are suffering because of it.
The damning stats
There is a degree of subjectivity to some of the problems hampering Arsenal right now, but the statistics also indicate that there are clear issues for Arteta to solve.
Arsenal picked up 13 points from a possible 15 in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup, but have since collected just one from their last three matches.
In those first five games, Arsenal scored 12 goals, but they have managed just two in the three outings since. Their expected goals has also dropped significantly (2.3 per game to 1.4 per game).
From a defensive perspective, their expected goals against has noticeably increased (1 per game to 1.8 per game), and Arteta’s men have also had more errors leading to shots or goals (3) in their last three games than they did in the previous five (2).
Put simply, Arsenal are not offering as much of a threat in the final third lately, and they look more shaky at the back.
ARSENAL STATS SINCE THE WORLD CUP
First 5 matches
Goals per game: 2.4
Expected goals (xG) per game: 2.3
Shots on target per game: 5.2
Goals conceded per game: 1.0
xG against per game: 1.0
Errors leading to shots per game: 0.4
Last 3 matches
Goals per game: 0.7
Expected goals per game: 1.4
Shots on target per game: 3.7
Goals conceded per game: 1.7
xG against per game: 1.8
Errors leading to shots per game: 1.0
Stats provided by Stats Perform
Can Arsenal get their title charge back on track?
Odegaard has called for his Arsenal team-mate to remain calm, and there is certainly no need to panic with the side knowing that they can return to the top if they win their game in hand.
But Arteta does need to arrest their slump quickly, starting with Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.
He must be considering changes, with Trossard and Vieira pushing for starts, while White could earn a recall. Dropping Martinelli and Xhaka would be a bold move, but may it may be necessary as the current line-up isn’t working.
It will also be intriguing to see whether Arsenal make slight adjustments to their style of play at Villa Park.
Arteta is hardly going to tell his players to start hoofing the ball aimlessly up the pitch, but City did use a more direct approach against the Gunners at times and it paid off.
Arteta has plenty to ponder as he looks to get his Arsenal side back on track in the title race
This may have shown Arsenal the way forward, demonstrating that playing a longer ball into the front line from time to time is an option, and will make the team less predictable.
Nobody expected Arsenal to be in this position at this stage of the season, but now that they are in title contention, they want to stay there.
They blew teams away in the early part of the season, but now they are stuttering and time is running out for them to get their title charge back on track.
Arteta and his team must adapt quickly if they want to keep pace with City.
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