Arsenal’s dream of playing in the Champions League next season is slowly fading away and their season could get worse before the end of May due of the level of opposition they face in their remaining games.
(Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
The Gunners suffered a third consecutive loss on Saturday when they were beaten at the Saint Mary’s thanks to a Jan Bednarek late goal at the end of the first half giving the host their first win in seven games.
After their 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the last match before the international break last month, the Gunners moved to 54 points, five within of third place Chelsea despite their game in hand.
However, the unfortunate events started when Scottish defender, Kieran Tierney suffered an injury in training, which saw him ruled out for the rest of the season starting with the trip to Selhurst Park.
Being well beaten by a side tutored by their former captain is not the only blow Arsenal suffered in their Monday night trip to Crystal Palace but they also lost Thomas Partey to an injury, which put doubts on his involvement in the remaining games of the season.
The Gunners hardly win games when the Ghanian midfielder is not available and that have not been able to change that in their last two games without the former Atletico Madrid man, losing two Brighton at the Emirates before another shambolic outing at the Saint Mary’s.
Where did Mikel Arteta get it wrong ?
In past season, Arsenal were one of the few most blessed with talented players in the middle of the park with players like Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin amongst others available for selection for the club at the same time.
When Unai Emery did let go of some of these players, he did brought in Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira to play alongside Granit Xhaka, whilst Mohamed Elneny was also around at some point before he left on loan to Turkey.
The Egyptian has hardly ever been trusted with a run in the team since his arrival at the club from Basel in the winter of 2016.
Heading into the new season, Mikel Arteta had two options in centre midfield in the duo of Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka. However, instead of bringing in readymade players to compete with the two, the Spaniard brought in Sambi Lokonga as the only option.
To the extent of admitting that the club did not sign the Belgian to be a regular in his first season having paid around £20 million to Anderlecht. That left the Gunners with only Xhaka and Partey to get them through the season as the only recognized first team centre midfielders since they let go of Ainsley Maitland Niles in January.
Also, the manager let Lucas Torreira move out on loan to Sampdoria while Matteo Guendouzi was also allowed to join Marseille on a loan deal which was eventually made permanent few months ago.
Despite the form of Guendouzi in the Ligue un, Arteta still see no reason the club should allow him return and was eventually moved on for fee around just €11 million.
Thomas Partey might have played his final game of the season after his injury against Crystal Palace.
The injury to Thomas Partey has exposed the club and Sambi Lokonga has time and again showed he is not ready to be involved in the first team. Mikel Arteta’s good work up until March is not slowly going to waste due to his negligence in the summer.
Ian Wright admitted on Saturday that it will take a miracle for the club to finish seventh this season as they still have a lot of tough games to come with Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham United in succession whereas they will also play Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur later on.
The defeat in the weekend saw them drop to sixth. It could have been worse had West Ham United not missed the chance to move them down to seventh after failing to beat Burnley at home.
However, with the run of games coming up for the Gunners, they will be lucky to remain only seventh as the former club legend had said and no other person is deserving of the blame than the man who has got them dreaming, Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal return to league action on Wednesday to honour their game in hand with a late travel to the Stamford Bridge Stadium to face Chelsea in a London derby match.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
