Photo: Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta has seen his team struggle since the start of the season and are now languishing in 14th place after 10 games in the English Premier League. (Getty Images)
Arsenal suffers yet another defeat on Sunday, going down 2-1 game to Wolves at home. The Gunners have now won only one of their last six Premier League games and only four of their opening ten games. They have thirteen points (13 pts) and currently sits in the bottom half the table in fourteenth place.
Arteta’s men have been struggling both in attack and in defense this season. Moreover, Arsenal’s strikers have not received support from the midfield players to create goal-scoring opportunities. Their playmakers lack the creativity and skill to carry and play the ball through midfield to the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.
Cumulatively, Lacazette and Aubameyang have scored only five goals since the start of the season. Lacazette who has three (3) and Aubameyang who has two (2) are the club’s top goal scorers so far this term, amounting for half the team’s 10 goals from 10 games, while they have conceded 12 for a goal difference of -2.
Interestingly, only the bottom four teams in the Premier League this season: Fulham, West Bromwich, Burnley, and Sheffield United, have scored fewer goals than Arsenal. The ongoing poor performance was evident in the Wolves game. Despite having seventy percent (70%) of the possession, they failed to channel any successful passes through the midfield.
Instead, they were forced to play long and lofted hopeful passes, oftentimes funneled out to the flanks. These passes were most times unsuccessful in finding any Arsenal player. They recorded thirty-one (31) crosses in open-play, the third most by any Premier League team in any game this season. This was not a record Arteta was hoping his team would break, but he will have to readjust and find ways for his men to start playing with more style and scoring more goals.
Thomas Partey who last played in the win over Manchester United, made an impact in the midfield after his recent signing, but has since been ruled out due to injury and has been sorely missed. In the meantime, Mesut Ozil won’t even be sitting on the bench, having been excluded from Arsenal’s Premier League squad.
The Gabon international, Aubameyang, scored twenty-two (22) goals last season and finishing in fine form, scoring six times in the club’s final four games. To get the Gunner’s striker back in a gunning form, Arteta will need to employ some new tactics for his men to create more chances for him to score.
Arsenal will play top of the table Tottenham Hotspur in a London Derby in their next fixture and will hope that their fans help them get all three points as 2000 fans will be allowed at the venue for the first time this season.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login