Morning all.
This week is all about the Champions League, Mikel Arteta will meet the press a bit later this morning, and I’m sure he’ll be talking up the excitement of facing Real Madrid – who announced their squad for this game yesterday. Some decent players in there, I guess.
I don’t think we’ll have any additions to our group, but the main thing is we should have everyone who was available for Everton, bar Raheem Sterling who is suspended. We’ll cover everything the manager has to say over on Arseblog News this afternoon.
Before we get there though, I wanted to reflect on a question asked of the manager after the Everton game, and whether or not Arsenal had drawn too many games this season. He said:
It really is. You have to win many more games, especially when there is a team that constantly is winning.
Arsenal have lost just 3 times this season in the league, Liverpool only twice, with the next best a clutch of clubs on 8 losses (Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Brighton), and just for a bit of comedy Sp*rs have lost 16 times since August. Liverpool have drawn 7, we’ve drawn 11, and therein lies the difference.
So, without wanting to trigger anyone this morning, I decided to go back and look at those draws, and how those games played out. Here we go.
Arsenal 1-1 Brighton – August 31st
It was going fine until the Declan Rice red card. I think it’s fair to say that the referee’s decision to send him off played a major part in this one.
Arseblog verdict: If Pedro had been booked for kicking the ball away in the first half, we could have no complaints about the Rice incident this morning, but that’s not what happened. The rules were applied differently to us, and that’s just fundamentally unfair.
Man City 2-2 Arsenal – September 22nd
We played the second half with 10 men after Leandro Trossard was ludicrously sent off, and we almost hung on for the win but for that late equaliser. Another one where the officials, rather than our performance, cost us points because I think with 11 men we win that game.
Arseblog verdict: Every season that gap to City closes, and this time they couldn’t beat us even with the advantage they were given for a second half which ran to nearly an hour. We used to be so easy to beat, now we are anything but.
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool – October 27th
A late goal from Mo Salah earned Liverpool a point in a game when we finished with a back four of Thomas Partey, Ben White, Jakub Kiwior and a fledgling Myles Lewis-Skelly, and one in which William Saliba was suspended for his red card against Bournemouth.
Arseblog verdict: Ultimately though, this was a game that we had in our hands, but once again let slip. I don’t think it’s possible to talk about why without referencing that back four, and how that might impact the team’s solidity. The central defensive partnership is basically the best in the Premier League, and we ended the game without both of them.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal – November 10th
Gabriel Martinelli’s opener was cancelled out by Pedro Neto, there was a late chance to win it when Trossard took the ball away from Havertz, but it might have been offside.
Arseblog verdict: I don’t think we can complain too much about a draw in the context of the game itself. It is frustrating to be in a winning position and to be pegged back again, but that was our fourth successive away game, and as the manager pointed out, this squad has been pushed to its limits physically.
Fulham 1-1 Arsenal – December 8th
They scored early, we got one back early in the second half and absolutely dominated the game in terms of territory and possession, but one of those games where our kryptonite – the opposition low-block (intentional or otherwise) – was evident.
Arseblog verdict: I would be very surprised if conversations about bolstering the attack haven’t already happened internally, but someone now needs to draw a big red line under it and make it a priority. There are always going to be days when your starting XI doesn’t quite deliver what we want – those options from the bench are the difference between one point and three, between a sustained title challenge and not, and yesterday we were found wanting there.
Arsenal 0-0 Everton – December 14th
A game about which I remember very little, but looking at the stats we dominated possession (77%), and the first half chances were better than the second. Everton came to deny us space to operate in, and we struggled to break down their low-block.
Arseblog verdict: I don’t think it was lack of effort or application, but a lack of something ‘extra’ that this team badly needs. If you want to call it individualism or something else, there’s room for something different, and what we’re seeing the absolute need for at least one addition to the forward line as soon as we can possibly do it.
Brighton 1-1 Arsenal – January 4th
Ethan Nwaneri put us ahead early on with a nice goal coming in from the right, Brighton were awarded a penalty for a clash of heads in our box. One of those ‘You’ve never seen that before!’, of which there have been too many this season. VAR failed to see Saliba’s touch on the ball, another common theme.
Arseblog verdict: I think we’ve been really, really unlucky at times this season, but the cold, hard truth is that we lack the firepower to overcome some of that ill-fortune. Some of what has happened is completely out of our control, but what we can control is how we build our squad, and in that sense we’ve been found wanting. If football is a game so often decided by the fine margins, we’ve allowed ourselves to be the wrong side of them too often, and we have to do something about it.
Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa – January 18th
2-0 up and cruising, we were found wanting defensively to let Villa back into it. We thought we’d won it late on, but Merino’s shot was adjudged to have hit Havertz on the arm as it went in. With injuries to Saka and Jesus leaving us short, we had little on the bench to change things. Arteta waited as long as possible before throwing Sterling on who made little difference.
Arseblog verdict: This was a game Arsenal had in their hands and let slip. After the Liverpool result it felt particularly acute at the final whistle. There was an air of disappointment and resignation. Everyone can see we’re short on game-changers, match-winners (or however you want to frame that), but also beset with injuries which really don’t help
Nottingham Forest 0-0 Arsenal – February 26th
A game that came after a defeat to West Ham and ahead of our Champions League tie against PSV. Arsenal had 13 shots, but just 1 shot on target despite 65% possession. They are one of the form teams this season, so perhaps in isolation this isn’t a bad result away from home, but it was another draw to add to the collection.
Arseblog verdict: Raheem Sterling came on and put in a 15 minutes so bereft of anything it made it abundantly clear why, even in this current forward crisis, the manager is choosing not to use him from the start.
Man Utd 1-1 Arsenal – March 9th
We needed a late equaliser from Declan Rice to peg back the worst United in living memory after Bruno Fernandes scored from a free kick which came very much against the run of play. Arsenal had United on strings in the first half, but with Havertz now injured forward options were scarce, Merino started up front, Kieran Tierney was brought on as an attacking sub.
Arseblog verdict: The first half probably encapsulates Arsenal right now. I thought we dominated Man Utd at their place in a way I’ve never really seen before. We were sharp, energetic, never let them have the ball for anything other than scant moments, but lacked cutting edge.
Everton 1-1 Arsenal – April 7th
You just read about it yesterday, but a game where a terrible officiating decision played a significant part. Yet also one that sums up why we have had so many draws this season, a deficit of attacking options.
CONCLUSION
I don’t know if this has made me feel better or more frustrated. That running theme of an attack that lacks potency is the main takeaway for me, even if some of those games were highly impacted by referees and VAR. If you want to rue our last summer windows, that’s fair enough. They are very much to ‘blame’ for what we’ve lacked this season.
If your glass is more half full, you might say that with that fundamental issue, with injuries, suspensions and their knock-on effects, and bizarre officiating, it’s to our credit that we’re actually in second place. We lose infrequently, which is obviously good. Also, that when it comes to this summer, perhaps more than any other in recent memory, the solution – such as it is – doesn’t feel complicated. It might be expensive, but you don’t need to be Mr Brains to figure it out. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Right, I’m gonna leave it there for now, but as ever we’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you today. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
Pod should be out mid-morning. For now, have a good one – and if you want something to listen to in the meantime, there’s a bonus Arsecast with Ian Wright below. Enjoy!
